Luis Enrique has changed the DNA to transform PSG into a different beast in the Champions League | OneFootball

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When some managers get a new job, they prioritise changing the goalkeeper or the away form or the set-piece record. Luis Enrique is not most managers, admittedly. He is more ambitious; more awkward, perhaps. As he reflected back to his arrival at Paris Saint-Germain, he said he wanted to change the DNA.

Which he has. Not by winning Ligue 1, which has tended to be a given. Or, yet, by claiming the Champions League that has eluded them in an era of high spending and European underachievement. But that may only be four results away; PSG may only require two wins, plus a third in the Coupe de France, from a treble. “It is our goal to try and win all the trophies,” said the Spaniard. A 3-1 triumph over Aston Villa took him a step closer.

Luis Enrique is at that point where victories are vindications: of an overriding approach as well as selection decisions such as benching Bradley Barcola so Desire Doue could start, star and score on Wednesday in the Parc des Princes.

Bought for €50m, Doue did not come cheap. They rarely do at PSG but there has still been a shift in ethos under Luis Enrique. “From the last year and this year we change our DNA, trying to sign young players with quality,” he said. “We have those resources and I think it is important to try and develop our idea not only with young players but with experience.”

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia may fall into both categories. Napoli’s surprise Scudetto and Georgia’s surge into the Euro 2024 knockout stages give him experience that appeared improbable when, three years ago, he played for Dinamo Batumi. His rise has been swift, even if he took a winding route; much like some of his solo runs. The winger was a player Luis Enrique was quick to target. He tried to sign him last year and eventually succeeded in January. And yet, while Kvaratskhelia’s hipster appeal reflects the way he looks like an intellectual, Luis Enrique sees a defensively-disciplined runner.

“He is gathering everything we want for this project,” he said. “He is making a great effort in defence and this is a precondition for what we want for this team. For me as a coach it is great.” He could have mentioned the recent PSG forwards who rarely made great efforts in defence: Kylian Mbappe, who he omitted at times last season when it became clear the Parisian was going to Real Madrid, Lionel Messi and Neymar, who left before his arrival.

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Desire Doue started, starred and scored against Aston Villa (AP)

Eight years on, it looks ever clearer that PSG learnt the wrong lesson from their 6-1 defeat to Luis Enrique’s Barcelona. They signed Neymar, and later Messi. It look them longer to look to the dugout and bring in Luis Enrique. They have appointed managers with collectivist principles before, in Emery and Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, but they all had to accommodate superstar players with questionable work rates. Luis Enrique won at Barcelona with Messi and Neymar but maybe it was best that PSG only developed an interest in him when the climate in the French capital had changed.

Perhaps they needed the failure of their Galactico project to change tack, the illustration that a quick scan of a rich list was not a recruitment policy. The flagship buys of Luis Enrique’s reign have all been players on the up – Kvaratskhelia, Doue, Barcola, Joao Neves – apart from Ousmane Dembele, who has been rejuvenated and reached greater heights than before.

It has not been flawless. Overloading on strikers and overpaying for them in the summer of 2023 looks still more mistaken now the attack comprises three wingers, when Randal Kolo Muani has been loaned out to Juventus and Goncalo Ramos is found on the bench.

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The exits of PSG’s superstar front three, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr allowed the club to reshape its identity (AFP via Getty Images)

Nor has progress always been smooth. There was the chastening hammering at Newcastle last season, the false start to the current Champions League campaign, when a meagre haul of four points from the first five games meant they risked early elimination. Even if they have one foot in the semi-final this season, they reached that stage last year, hit the Borussia Dortmund woodwork six times and lost to underdogs.

It was a result in keeping with their past. In trying to alter the DNA, Luis Enrique is trying to bury the past. Perhaps PSG were propelled into the position of favourites for this year’s competition by the scale of Real Madrid’s defeat to Arsenal. They have struggled with the burden of expectation before. They didn’t on Wednesday, even when they trailed.

They offered an endorsement of Arne Slot’s view they are the best team in Europe, an opinion that certainly has not gone unnoticed in France, even if Barcelona and Arsenal staked competing claims over the week, too. But whereas PSG’s previous attempts to be the best had consisted of buying those already recognised as the best, now they have forged a team. They are younger, faster and more fun. But they have a different DNA.