After Ramos deal - PSG increase transfer spending to €47.7m per goal scored

Paris Saint-Germain have triggered the purchase option for forward Gonçalo Ramos. The Ligue 1 club confirmed this on Wednesday evening. The Portuguese striker will now be under contract until 2028. Benfica will receive €65 million initially, plus up to €15m in performance-based bonuses. That makes Ramos the fifth most expensive signing in PSG’s history. Once he hits his performance-based add-ons, Ramos could rise all the way to fourth place. 

The timing of the permanent transfer is somewhat surprising. After scoring 27 goals and 12 assists in 47 games for Benfica last season, Ramos has struggled to break into PSG’s XI this season. In 15 games played, Ramos has averaged 49 minutes of playing time and scored just two goals and one assist. Indeed, Ramos has scored just every 302 minutes in Ligue 1 this season. 

Ramos, however, isn’t the only striker to have struggled overall at PSG. In fact, the Ligue 1 giants have struggled this season to get any scoring other than from their superstar Kylian Mbappé. While Mbappé has scored 15 goals in 15 games across all competitions, the next best goalscorer for PSG is Achraf Hakimi with four goals in 14 games.

Ramos, Kolo Muani, Ekitiké, Dembélé: PSG have spent €238.5m for 5 goals

Indeed, finding secondary scoring to take off the pressure from Mbappé was one of the main tasks for strategic advisor Luis Campo. PSG have now spent €210m on Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani, and winger Ousmane Dembélé. Also, Hugo Ekitiké was initially on loan from Stade Reims, and his €28.5m transfer is on the books for this summer. That means altogether, PSG have spent €238.5m on new forwards this season. 

While Ekitiké and Dembélé are yet to score for PSG this season, Ramos and Kolo Muani have combined for 5 goals. In other words, PSG have spent €47.7m for every goal scored for their new forward group. An unsatisfying situation for Campos and his head coach, Luis Enrique. Despite the lack of goalscoring by Kolo Muani, Ramos, and Co., PSG still rank eleventh in goalscoring among all clubs playing in Europe’s top 5 leagues, with 36 goals scored across all competitions.

That’s been mostly due to Mbappé’s incredible goalscoring form that ranks him third in Europe, together with Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez and Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy among all players playing in one of the top 10 leagues. In fact, only Harry Kane (21 goals) and Erling Haaland (17 goals) have scored more often. But the idea of bringing in the likes of Kolo Muani and Ramos was to ensure more diversified scoring for PSG. With the Ramos deal now permanent, the Portuguese striker has to justify the high transfer fee paid sooner rather than later.