Following the decision of Leonardo to resign as Paris Saint-Germain’s sporting director, the cash-laden club has a new problem on its hands that could jeopardise all the hard work that has been done in the past.
A little over a year ago, Paris Saint-Germain had Carlo Ancelotti as their manager and Leonardo as the director of football. Today, Ancelotti is the manager at Real Madrid while Leonardo has announced his resignation from the post at the end of the transfer window.

It is quite a blow for the club’s plans as the reigning French champions are in the process of bringing in a high profile centre-forward for what could possibly be the fourth-highest fee in the history of football. In short, Paris Saint-Germain have been left scrambling by the future departure of a man who has been the cornerstone of the assembly of high profile players who have graced the lawns of Parc des Princes.

With pockets deep enough to go on spending sprees, it is quite shocking to see Leonardo leave the club. The Brazilian was the main reason why the club managed to finally win the Championnat last season after 18 years. Moreover, most of the players who helped the club regain its place in Europe and in France, were the result of the extensive network and connections that Leonardo has made over the course of his career.

However, the departure of Leonardo is bound to have an impact on Les Parisiens transfer strategy. Leonardo was the main reason why the likes of Javier Pastore, Salvatore Sirigu, Marco Verratti, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva chose to join the Ligue 1 outfit.

The arrival of Edinson Cavani looms large and Leonardo’s departure will not affect all this. However, the main question would be how the club can convince players to join a project that has just lost its most prized asset?

For the time being, the impact of this news is still unknown but one can ask all the big questions. If the departure of Leonardo does not call into question the investment of Qatar Investment Authority which will not change most of its methods, PSG have still lost a person who has quite a reputation in Europe and South America, a reputation that helped the club acquire so many good players.

Leonardo and Ancelotti embodied the sporting project of the Qatari owners and without those two and their undeniable expertise, PSG’s owners would certainly be feeling a little lonely for now. In the short term, PSG finds itself at an impasse and if Leonardo has chosen to stay until the end of the transfer window, it could be primarily because the club has not found a successor yet and that Leonardo has been decent enough to get the job done before packing up.

However, all is not dark in the city of lights. New manager, Laurent Blanc will now have to take more responsibility and though he will not be doing all the work that Leonardo did in the future, the former France manager might have a lot of freedom in strengthening the squad that he might have never had under Leonardo.

In France, it is quite an open secret. The Parisian club are dreaming of Arsene Wenger for next season. The Arsenal manager will be free of his contractual obligations in June 2014 and would not be against the idea of being the sporting director of a club where he might have more flexible owners willing to give him as much cash as he needs in order to make a team that would be a force in Europe.

It might not be all gloom and bloom for the French side after all, the capital side recently won their first league title in 19 years and as things stand the club is on course of becoming a powerhouse in the football world and if they succeed in doing so there is no question that big players will be attracted to the club.

The departure of Leonardo has led to a lot of ifs and buts regarding the future of the PSG project, but it will only serve as a minor bump along the club’s path towards becoming a force in European football.