Sunday Oliseh: PSG’s Collective Identity Has Flourished Since Kylian Mbappé’s Real Madrid Move

Former Nigeria international and ex-Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has offered a detailed assessment of Paris Saint-Germain’s evolution as a footballing unit, attributing much of their renewed collective strength to the exit of Kylian Mbappé, who departed the French capital for Real Madrid on a free transfer ahead of the 2024/25 season, signing a five-year deal at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Speaking on his Sunday Oliseh Global Football Insights show, the former midfielder argued that PSG’s current squad is defined by shared responsibility rather than dependence on any single individual. “When PSG lost the ball to the previous team, no one was pressing. They have now sacrificed egos, the superstars. The team is now the star,” Oliseh said.

Oliseh went further, suggesting that Mbappé’s exit — while a significant commercial and sporting loss on paper — ultimately served as a catalyst for a cultural reset within the dressing room. “In fact, I’ll say that Mbappé did them a favour because before his exit, it was said that he called the shots at the club, but you don’t hear that anymore,” he explained.

Central to Oliseh’s argument is the behavioural shift he has observed among PSG’s remaining stars. He pointed specifically to Ousmane Dembélé as evidence of the club’s changed standards and accountability structures. “Players are now saying if they don’t run, they don’t play. When you hear things like that from Dembélé, who’s one of the best players in the world, that tells you the club has totally evolved,” Oliseh said.

For Oliseh, PSG’s current trajectory reflects broader shifts in modern football. “This is the evolution of football. They’re now in the UEFA Champions League final with practically the same team for 24 months,” he concluded.

PSG’s progression to the Champions League final represents a landmark achievement for a club that has repeatedly fallen short in Europe’s premier club competition despite significant investment over the past decade. The Parisians have reached the final with a squad that has remained largely stable, a notable contrast to the era of high-profile, high-cost signings that defined the club’s previous transfer strategies.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has faced a turbulent debut season at Real Madrid, with scrutiny over his performances and integration into Carlo Ancelotti’s system. His absence from PSG has coincided with the club’s most convincing European campaign in recent memory, lending weight to the narrative that the team’s collective identity was, at times, overshadowed during his tenure at the Parc des Princes.

Oliseh, who captained Nigeria and earned widespread respect as both a player and analyst, has been an increasingly prominent voice in continental football commentary. His remarks add to growing discussion around how elite clubs balance individual stardom with systemic team-building — a tension that PSG appear, at least for now, to have resolved in favour of the collective.