what happens to Ismaël Gharbi?

With Ilyes Housni (19 years old), Ismaël Gharbi (20 years old) was one of the young talents of Paris Saint-Germain announced as very promising. Today, neither of them has broken through with the Rouge-et-Bleu. The first city was loaned to Le Havre after an experience in Qatar with Al-Sadd, while the second, after a Swiss adventure at Stade-Lausanne (7 goals, 6 assists), was sold to Sporting Braga ( contract until 2029). A sale which brought nothing to PSG, even if the club retained 50% of the player's economic rights. In other words, if Braga one day resells Gharbi (which has a release clause set at €35 million), half of this sum will go into the Parisian coffers.

The rest after this ad

Within the Lusitanian club, coach Carlos Carvalhal was pleased with such a catch, convinced of having attracted a nugget to polish into his nets. “Gharbi was not a priority, but I immediately thought of this player when Yan Couto was suggested to me. I saw Yan Couto for two minutes and immediately knew he was a different player. We signed him at the right time and he is now in the Brazilian national team and playing at a very high level. The same goes for Gharbi. I looked, I saw the player and I told the president that at this age and with this potential, whether or not we need him in an emergency, I told him not to let tail this player, because he is predestined for football. This is all very relative, but I hope I’m not wrong”he declared last September.

Braga expected a lot from Gharbi

Since then, the facts have not proved Carvalhal very right. If Braga is in a good fourth place in the Liga Betclic rankings, Gharbi is struggling to win. Of course, the former Parisian still has 18 appearances in all competitions, but it is often to come in during the game. Without forgetting an average statistical record (2 goals, 1 assist). In the league (2 goals), he was called up thirteen times, but only started twice. And in his last three Liga Betclic matches, he only came into play once. His average playing time is 23.8 minutes per match, which is not much. In the Europa League, Gharbi was called to all matches for two starts (average playing time of 46 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists).

The rest after this ad

Finally, Gharbi was used twice in the Portuguese Cup (1 assist) and it is perhaps in this competition that he will have the opportunity to relaunch himself. The Game explains in fact that Gharbi is “indebted to the expectations generated by his reputation as a “golden boy” during his time at Paris Saint-Germain”. The Portuguese daily confirms that the Spanish international (6 caps for the U19s, 3 for the U18s) is struggling to break through and that the Braga fiasco against AS Roma in C3 on December 12 (3-0 defeat) left him was detrimental (Gharbi started and played 70 minutes). Announced as a possible starter during the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup on Wednesday against the modest Lusitano de Évora team, will Ismaël Gharbi be able to take advantage of this opportunity to reverse the trend?