When it was announced that PSG had signed Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, there was shock.
Fresh off the back of relegation from the Premier League with Stoke City, Maxim Choupo-Moting had failed to make a single appearance throughout the Championship season so far.
So what, exactly, is one of the world’s wealthiest football clubs, with the option of signing literally any player on earth, doing signing a man who has only scored more than 10 goals for two sides in an 11-year career?
Well, it seems that it’s very simple. New PSG manager Thomas Tuchel took over from now-Arsenal boss Unai Emery in the summer after taking a sabbatical in the aftermath of his departure from Borussia Dortmund.
Prior to working at the Westfalenstadion, Tuchel was the manager of another Bundesliga side, Mainz 05, from 2009 to 2014.
During his time at Mainz, Tuchel signed a young Cameroonian forward called Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who excelled under him and scored 20 goals in 74 games.
Maxim Choupo-Moting would impress so much at Mainz that he would end up earning a move to Schalke 04, where he made 82 appearances before moving to Stoke City last season.
But now it has come full circle, and with Tuchel in the position to bring in a former player to be a useful squad option he has done so with the 29-year-old.
Will it work out? Only time will tell.
