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PSG

PSG raid Premier League for first summer signing

Dan MacGuill
Dan MacGuill - [email protected]
PSG raid Premier League for first summer signing
French champions Paris Saint-Germain have already brought a Premier League award-winner to Parc des Princes for next season. File photo: AFP

Ligue 1 rivals Monaco have splashed out on €70-million signings Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez from Porto, but newly-crowned French champions Paris Saint-Germain did some shopping of their own on Tuesday. Fans, however, might be slightly underwhelmed by their new recruit.

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David Beckham, Thiago Silva, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are just some of the big-name foreign signings that French champions PSG have made in recent years.

And now the Qatari-owned club can add the name of another foreigner with a winning record to its payroll – the award winning English groundsman Jonathan Calderwood.

Calderwood has been closely overseeing the condition of the pitch at Villa Park, the home of Premier League club Aston Villa in recent years, and was voted Groundsman of the Year in both 2009 and 2012.

No wonder, then, that the Parisian club has sought out his services for the beginning of the 2013-2014 season, as they attempt to retain the French championship that they won earlier this month for the first time in 19 years.

Calderwood’s arrival coincides with the departure of another Englishman from PSG, the slightly better-known former England captain David Beckham, who retired from professional football with the last day of the French championship on Sunday.

The award-winning groundsman, however, could yet be joined at the Parc des Princes next season by a man who would grace any pitch - his compatriot Wayne Rooney.

The troubled England striker fell out of favour towards the end of Manchester United’s Premier League-winning season, and rumours of his imminent departure for Paris have gained momentum in recent weeks.

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