Handball: PSG Hand begins a new era
With the first official game of the season, PSG Hand is about to start an eventful season with many managerial departures. First test against Nantes this Saturday at 8pm for the Trophée des Champions (BeIN Sports 3).
2022 is a crucial year
This is a real turning point in the recent history of PSG Hand, which takes place in the 2022-2023 season. After QSI’s arrival, at least five players left the club in June, apart from the much-publicized and feared departure symbol of Mikkel Hansen, who carried the PSG Hand project on his shoulder. At the end of the 2022 contract: Vincent Gérard, Yann Genty, Benoît Kounkoud, Nedim Remili and therefore Mikkel Hansen.
Indeed, Mikkel Hansen will return to the country in Aalborg after 10 years in Paris, Benoit Kounkoud and Nedim Remili will find Dylan Nahi in Kielce, Vincent Gérard has signed in St Raphaël and his friend Yann Genty has taken the destination of Limoges. The situation could have been worse after Nikola Karabatic, Henrik Toft Hansen and Kamil Syprzak renewed their contracts in the final months.
Owners
As for the owners, three players leave. If the number is impressive and sparks a revolution, it will be very little for two reasons. First, because Paris learned to play without Hansen or Remilly last season when the Dane and Frenchman were injured, but also because the substitutes have already outplayed them statistically. Excluding penalties, both Elohim Prandi and Dainis Kristopans have scored more goals than, say, Mikkel Hansen and Nedim Remili in the league, scoring 95 to 23 and 102 to 77 respectively, while also scoring more goals per match. They scored 3.5 and 3.3 goals. 4.1 vs. 1.3.
Indeed, if Mikkel Hansen has been down a lot due to his knee, Nedim Remili has underperformed since his move to Kielce was announced, conceding 4.3 goals per game over the course of the season. 2020-2021 last season only 3.3.
2022
2023
Substitutes
On the substitutes side, Paris loses Benoit Kounkoud, who has been particularly interesting in the Parisians’ 5-1 defense and will be replaced by the experienced David Balaguer, who won the European Championship with Spain in 2018. Especially with the two young players in the arrivals area, there are the most questions and excitement.
Dominic Mathe, a young Hungarian prodigy with a crazy early age of 23, he played for his country at the 2019 World Cup when he was still in his early twenties and has the profile of Nedim Remili when he arrives at PSG, with excellent shooting quality and skill. to be decisive in important moments. Unfortunately, it will probably be necessary to wait until February to take advantage of the player, who is recovering from a torn cruciate knee ligament. He is available at the club, he is training separately, but he is not yet involved in the opposition.
Johann Gibelin, the 22-year-old is part of the golden generation of French handball, having won the first European championship for the French U19 team in 2017 and the U21 world championship in 2019. Arriving in Paris with Elohim Prandi, he will restore the pair on the left. rear position collecting these beauties. The two players complement each other very well, as Gibelin is as good a defender as Prandi is brilliant in attack. He could very well be the Paris surprise of the season, with a profile that could develop under a coach of the caliber of Raul Gonzalez.
2022
2023
A renewed workforce
It is a paradigm shift we are witnessing for PSG Hand. Since the arrival of QSI, established by the recruitment of handball legends Mikkel Hansen, Luc Abalo, Thierry Omeyer, Daniel Narcisse or Nikola Karabatic, or superstars such as Uwe Gensheimer and Sander Sagosen, Paris has made a very different choice to renew its workforce with young players, with solid credentials and less fame in the handball world.
- Gérard 34 years -> Green 32 years
- Genty 39 years old -> Palicka 35 years old
- Remili 26 years old -> Mathé 22 years old
- Hansen 33 years -> Steins 26 years
- Viran Morros 37 years -> Ghibelline 21 years
Experienced goalkeeper duo
This is what we hope will be the biggest sporting addition of the 2022 transfer window. After the relative failure to recruit a goalkeeping duo for the French team, Paris have opted not to keep Vincent Gérard and Yann Genty to start again. A new pair of Swedish Andréas Palicka and Dane Jannick Green.
Overall, 16 years of experience in the Bundesliga, the world’s best league, will strengthen PSG, especially in terms of decisive Champions League matches where the differential against PSG has been too frequent in recent years. The duo complement each other very well. Andréas Palicka won it all at club level, most notably with THW Kiel where he won two Champions Leagues, the first at the age of 24 under Thierry Omeyer. For his part, Jannick Green will resume his distinguished number one bis status in the Danish team to support Niklas Landi. Very good at taking penalties, he led the Magdeburg club to the top as he won the club’s first Bundesliga since 2001 with a record of 32 wins and 2 losses.
End of contracts
Paris will again have a big job to manage this season with seven contracts expiring at the end of the current season. If we know that Henrik Toft Hansen will return to the country, this is not the case for the others, and at least not because he has four. Paris made a major move at the end of last season, securing two of their best players in Kamil Syprzak until 2025 and Luc Steins until 2026.
2023
- Ferran Sole
- Adam Keita
- Mathieu Grebille
- Elohim Prandi
- Dainis Christophans
- Nikola Karabatic (Extended)
- Henrik Toft Hansen 2023 -> Mors-Thy Handbold (DAN)
2024
- Jannick Green
- Andreas Palicka
- David Balaguer
- Johann Gibelin
- Dominic Mathe
- Sadou N’Tanzi
- Luka Karabatic
