Along with Leo Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Achraf Hakimi, last summer Giorginio Wijnaldum arrived at Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent.. The Dutch midfielder, at 31, had just been a key player in Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Champion of everything with the Reds, the incorporation of the international with the Netherlands was a master signing of the Parisian board that, after investing a large number of millions in the rest of the transfers, took over the services of a player in the fullness of his career desired by half of Europe. However, despite the fact that he has already made 27 appearances in the PSG shirt this season – 16 as a starter – his beginnings in French football were neither what the club expected nor what the player wanted. “I was a bit disappointed with how things were going at the beginning of the season on a personal level. At that time many people thought that I was not happy at the club, when I was.”Wijnaldum said in an interview for the club’s official magazine.
Some statements by the Dutch footballer shortly after signing with the Parisian team, in which he acknowledged that his situation at PSG “is not what he wanted”, caused quite a stir in the French capital. Some English media even reported Georginio Wijnaldum’s alleged regret after signing for Paris Saint-Germain and his desire to return to the Premier League, even in the last winter market. That is why the former Liverpool footballer wanted to explain what happened: “I just wasn’t happy with the amount of minutes I was getting at the time.. A journalist asked me: ‘Are you satisfied with your playing time?’ No, I wasn’t. I think that any player who spends more time on the bench than on the pitch will not be happy with that.” That is, Wijnaldum’s “problem” at PSG was not the arrival in Paris itself, but the lack of opportunities. “The media interpreted what I said as saying that I was not happy at PSG, which was not at all the case.”clarifies the Dutch.
Wijnaldum, who despite not playing a minute in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, Real Madrid has made 4 starts in the 6 games he has been available in 2022, also spoke about the making of the Paris Saint squad -Germain and the sporting growth of the team: “It takes time to build a good team, you have to get to know each other. Given the club’s resources, everyone expects us to win everything, but it doesn’t work like that”. And it is that the Dutch midfielder speaks from experience, since he arrived, in reference to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, “to a team that was still under construction”. In the case of the Parisian group, the foundation of the Mauricio Pochettino, Leonardo and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi project now goes through the European tie against Real Madrid.