Last weekend, Paris Saint Germain and Arsenal played the Champions League final in the 2025-2026 season. PSG made history by becoming the second team after Real Madrid to successfully defend the Champions League title, Arsenal missed the opportunity to win the European championship for the first time - and also the first team to win after an unbeaten season.
In a way, both PSG and Arsenal have belonged to foreign investors since 2011, however, the path they have taken is not the same.
Investors from Qatar spare no expense for the French capital team, signing contracts with half a dozen coaches, persuading a series of superstars, culminating in the simultaneous presence of the trio Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe. Arsenal is different, having a new owner but still frugal, almost not creating a breakthrough with only a few domestic cups.
PSG rose to become a "giant" of Ligue 1 (12/14 French championships came after 2011), but what they crave most - the Champions League, could not be reached for more than a decade... And the irony is, when MNM is no longer in the squad, PSG won the European championship for 2 consecutive years.
Meanwhile, in the period when Arsenal spent more under Mikel Arteta, their progress was clear, with the Premier League title 2025-2026 after 3 consecutive seasons of second place. Of course, including reaching the Champions League final for the second time in 20 years.
Some conclusions can be drawn. It is not that having money means winning everything, but on the contrary, you must know how to spend appropriately and wisely. But to be wise, people also need to go through failures, mistakes, and bargaining. To get sweet fruit, sometimes you have to accept crop failures.
Their journey is also a story of "collecting" suitable pieces, not necessarily "picking" many outstanding stars, arranged next to each other but unable to create identity and cohesion. To create a "winning machine", time is necessary to develop the strongest details, purify the unstable links, and replace them with suitable "components".
Life is like that, having a lot of money, you can't find joy immediately...
