Raphael Guerreiro Almost Signed for PSG in 2019

After back to back seasons playing limited minutes, Raphael Guerreiro came close to leaving Dortmund for PSG in the summer of 2019, the Portuguese international revealed in a recent interview with BeIN Sports. The move to PSG would have reunited him with Thomas Tuchel, the man who initially brought him to Dortmund in the summer of 2016.

While Guerreiro did not explicitly state his reason for considering the move, simply saying “I was pretty much okay with going. After there were changes at the club, and it took another direction”, there are a few possible explanations. The most obvious is a desire to be reunited with the aforementioned Tuchel. Before the summer of 2019, his career’s most successful season was under Tuchel, receiving regular minutes and playing an instrumental role in BVB’s DFB Pokal win. For those who do not remember, Guerreriro’s determination led to Dortmund’s first goal in their semi-final upset over Bayern Munich. He also played the full 90 minutes in the final, as Borussia Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1.

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The second explanation for Rapha’s transfer to PSG would have been positional preference. He is a versatile player who can play left-back, left midfield, and central midfield. Under Tuchel, he split the majority of his time between left midfield and central midfield. While under Favre, he spent the majority of his time on the left-wing or full-back. He may have sought to return to a more central role under Tuchel. Granted, this is all speculation, but Guerreiro may have been looking to change position, leading him to look for greener pastures in Paris.

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As we now know he decided to remain at BVB and the 2019/20 season was the best of his career so far. He set career highs in goals and league minutes played, and when asked about his decision to stay, Guerreiro said “Now I want to say that luckily I extended here because I think I had the best season of my career and I hope to continue like that.” His current contract runs until the summer of 2023. He has easily been one of the Black and Yellow’s top performers this season with three goals and six assists across three competitions.

Where do you think the team would be without him? Please leave your comments below.