Kylian Mbappe's exit needs to end PSG's Champions League obsession - the time has come to start developing their own Galacticos

Eighteen months ago, Mbappe leaving so soon seemed unlikely. At the very end of the 2021-22 campaign, he shocked the world by turning down Real Madrid's massive offer before he was paraded around Parc des Princes while holding aloft an 'Mbappe 2025' shirt to mark him becoming the best-paid footballer in the world.

Any hope of him joining Madrid over the course of the next three years was seemingly gone. Yes, Mbappe would have another chance to leave in 2025, but Madrid's ego had been bruised, and Mbappe's new salary presumably put him out of reach for any interested parties.

Things change quickly when it comes to Mbappe, though. He never stopped flirting with Madrid, keeping the possibility of a move open. and last summer, Mbappe went about sealing the deal. Refusing to pick up the extra option was the first step; announcing it to the world - or ensuring it was leaked - was the second; and declining a move to the Saudi Pro League was the third. It was all tied up - albeit six months later than he might have hoped - last week, when he officially communicated his decision to leave Paris.

Somehow, a season-and-a-half after signing the kind of deal that had the potential to keep Mbappe in Paris for life, he has now engineered an amicable exit.

Mbappe's pending departure brings the curtain down on a PSG era that promised so much, but instead saw them become an almost-annual punchline in the Champions League. Since Al-Khelaifi took charge in 2012, the club has acquired superstar after superstar, all in the hope that spending vast sums of money could bring the European Cup to Paris. It hasn't worked.

The Parisians' European failures have come in all shapes and sizes, from blowing massive leads to lifeless showings, penalty heartbreak, and an unfortunate final loss in 2020. From La Remontada to Marcus Rashford's VAR-assisted spot-kick, PSG just haven't been able to get it right on European nights.

The weight of expectation has certainly played a role. Big names are supposed to win big trophies - especially when they're coached by marketable man-managers or tactful tacticians. Parisian failures look worse because of the individuals in the line-up.

None of PSG's failures felt as catastrophic as those in 2022 and 2023. Messi has since revealed that he never really wanted to be a PSG player, but his reluctance does little to explain the fact that a team containing the Argentine maestro, Neymar and Mbappe never managed to make it past the last 16 of the competition.

There were admittedly failures around them, as first Mauricio Pochettino and then Christophe Galtier could do little to wrangle a turbulent squad into something coherent. While Messi, Neymar and Mbappe all had their moments in PSG shirts, focusing the bulk of club's finances on the forward line meant that the rest of the team wasn't up to the required standard, and thus the much-vaunted trio largely became little more than merchandise-moving commodities and sources of YouTube highlights.

A superstar-first approach seldom works; the presence of Neymar, Messi and Mbappe in Paris proved that.

While the Mbappe saga grabbed most of the headlines around PSG last summer, the club hierarchy were simultaneously overseeing a much-needed change in strategy. Their transfer activity was lavish - the Parisians spent nearly €400 million (£340m/$430m) - but they focused on young players.

In came forwards Goncalo Ramos (22), Randal Kolo Muani (24) and Bradley Barcola (20), as well as midfielders Lee Kang-in (22) and Manuel Ugarte (22). Even their more experienced new arrivals, Ousmane Dembele (26) and Lucas Hernandez (27), were far from being over the hill, even if they both have patchy injury histories.

The managerial appointment sent a similar message. Luis Enrique is not the kind of manager a club hires in order to maintain dressing-room harmony and pander to stars. This was the coach who forced Xavi out and willingly dropped Neymar on a number of occasions at Barcelona, and he immediately told Marco Verratti that his services were no longer needed upon his arrival in France.

The potential in PSG's new-look squad couldn't be denied, but the plan seemed to be more aligned with the club's status as just below the true elite, and with one eye on the future.

PSG, though, haven't just limited themselves to European-based players as they aim to cast the net as wide as possible when it comes to building a new team, and they are keen to become a player in the increasingly packed South American market.

Real Madrid and Manchester City, in particular, have pillaged the likes of Brazil and Argentina in recent years, and it is no coincidence that they now boast the two best squads in Europe. There are more on their way to the Bernabeu and Etihad Stadium, too, with Brazilian wonderkid Endrick set to finally join up with Madrid this summer, while Argentina's 'new Messi', Claudio Echeverri, is back at River Plate on loan after agreeing a move to City in January.

Now, PSG are catching on. They were very much in the race for both Endrick and then Vitor Roque, who in the end chose Barcelona. January, though, brought a breakthrough, as they signed Sao Paulo defender Lucas Beraldo and Corinthians midfielder Gabriel Moscardo for a combined €40m (£34m/$43m).

The pair were coveted by top Premier League clubs, among others, but PSG were able to sell both on their project, and they are unlikely to be the last players to arrive in the French capital from across the Atlantic.

As well as broadening their horizons when it comes to signings, PSG are also looking to finally embrace their own. Their new €300m training facility, conveniently positioned 15 miles west of Paris' city centre, has consolidated all levels of the football club - as well as their handball and judo teams - in one lavish new campus, meanin every single member of the Parisian set-up, at every level, now goes to work at the same place.

The club hopes it will be the basis of a change in youth policy. For years, the Parisians have let some of their biggest academy gems go. Kingsley Coman, Christopher Nkunku, Moussa Diaby and countless others have been plucked from the local area, only to be sold before they could have a true first-team impact.

This new version of PSG, though, has already shown signs that it is willing to use the talent at its disposal to build something. Seventeen-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery, the jewel of the academy, has played the fifth-most minutes out of any PSG player in Ligue 1 this season - despite missing three weeks due to injury. More are on their way, too. Ethan Mbappe, Senny Mayulu and Ishmael Gharbi are all expected to break into the first team in the coming months, while Xavi Simons - originally a La Masia player who joined PSG at the age 16 - seems poised to play a big role next year upon his return from loan at RB Leipzig.

Without the big names around, the door is open for homegrown players to make an impact, and there are plenty who are capable of doing just that.

So, PSG have been handed an opportunity. Their all-time top goalscorer, best player and main commercial asset may be on his way out, but in the wake of his departure, there is a chance for a flailing club to become something bigger.

QSI assembled an imperfect super-team, bringing in a series of stars in the hope of piecing together a side that could win the Champions League. There were, admittedly ulterior motives, given it was in Qatar's interest to have the best players playing at their flagship club by the time they hosted the 2022 World Cup - something they achieved when both Messi and Mbappe played - and shone - in the final.

Now, with the World Cup in the past and the star names steadily departing, the Parisians can finally make everything work at a reasonable pace. This might still be expensive - as long as they can throw money around, PSG will spend. It might also be quite difficult - talented youngsters do not always equal continental success.

But for the first time, there is a roadmap to sustainable growth. In Zaire-Emery and Simons, the Parisians might have their homegrown Galacticos. And if this transfer policy stays steady, the pieces could be added to lift them up. For PSG, a Champions League title is still far away, but Mbappe leaving might ironically edge them closer to one day getting over that final hurdle.