Now that the 2019-20 Ligue 1 season is over, it’s time to hand out some grades to the Paris Saint-Germain players for their performance in the French top flight.
Note: In order to be graded, each player needed to have appeared in at least five Ligue 1 matches this season.
Marco Verratti
Intro: Marco Verratti is the sometimes forgotten superstar of Paris Saint-Germain with Kylian Mbappé and Neymar Jr. making most of the headlines, but make no mistake about it, the Italy international is a superstar in every sense of the word.
Along with Marquinhos, Verratti also committed to PSG long term last October when he signed a contract extension that will keep him in the French capital until June of 2024. This is a player that could walk into the starting lineup of practically any club in Europe so to have him dedicate the prime of his career (27-years-old) to PSG is very special.
Other than a few relatively minor injuries that forced him to miss four games this season, Verratti was a constant presence in the starting lineup where he terrorized Ligue 1 opponents with his ability to win the ball back, keep possession, and launch PSG’s offense with a key pass.
Stats:
20 Appearances
5 Assists
8 Big Chances Created
79.1 Accurate Passes per Game
1.0 Interceptions per Game
2.7 Tackles Per Game
6 Yellow Cards
Final Grade: A
Outlook: At some point, you would hope that Verratti would cut down on the yellow cards but other than that, there are no glaring weaknesses to the Italy international’s game. If Leonardo, PSG’s sporting director, is able to pair him with a tall, physically imposing midfielder who can take on some of the defensive duties in the middle of the park, Verratti stands to thrive next season as more of a playmaker and hopefully, that will cut down on his fouling, too.
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