Neymar, Messi, and Mbappe all failed to win the UEFA Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain. Now football pundits are wondering if the club ever will.
Despite coming in as favourites, a star-studded PSG lost to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final after conceding a goal in each of the home and away ties.
Expectations were high for the Parisians, who hadn't been kept scoreless in a home game since the start of the season.
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With Kylian Mbappe bound for Real Madrid and PSG not signing a so-called 'Galactico' replacement, there are concerns the Ligue 1 champs will suffer a slump.
PSG's spending spree has proven to be a costly exercise to date with no Champions League trophy to show for it.
The club spent more than $350 million to acquire Neymar from Barcelona with a $90 million salary, more than $400 million for Messi's two years at the club, and an eye-watering $300 million per season for Mbappe's services.
"Is this the end of the experiment or the project or whatever you want to call it?" questioned Mark Pougatch on Stan Sport's coverage.
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"Because Neymar, Messi, Mbappe couldn't win them the Champions League, then two of them left and it was Mbappe with a group of younger players and it seemed to have a little bit more of a rounded soul about it with (Luis) Enrique (PSG head coach).
"That couldn't win them the Champions League, now Mbappe is going to leave for Real Madrid, we assume. When are we going to see PSG at this sort of stage again?
"If we take what we've said about the league not being competitive enough, so they're not savvy enough, or they don't play with enough intensity at this level, and they don't have a superstar like Mbappe, can we really realistically expect them to be at this sort of stage again in the next one, two, three, four years?"
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For ex-Premier League goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, the writing was on the wall when Luis Enrique took the reins from Christophe Galtier.
Enrique was appointed head coach in July, 2023 on a two-year deal fresh off a spell spearheading Spain's national team.
"It's a very good question – and I don't want to focus too much on the strengths of the leagues because there are other factors involved as well – but it must be said, over the last five seasons PSG have made the semi-finals on three occasions," said Bosnich.
"There's an argument for that as well. The other argument is that I actually think in terms of – if you want to call it that the galacticos or what Pou was saying about having the all-star side and going all-out to win the holy grail, the Champions League like that – I think the beginning of the end was when Luis Enrique came in.
"It was quite obvious he had a remit from the club to say 'Listen, Mbappe is not going to be here forever' so he's already started to build in that direction. It's strange how the football gods work.
"Sometimes you think you've got everything you need and it doesn't happen, all of a sudden you're beneath the radar, people forget about PSG and they come back and win it.
"They'll be supremely disappointed, no doubt about that but they definitely will be back, in my opinion."
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Borussia Dortmund will play one of either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, who go into the second leg of their tie on Thursday level on two goals apiece.
That match is live, ad-free, and exclusively on Stan Sport from 4.35am AEST.
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