Real Madrid‘s original Galacticos – the team of Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo – only managed to win one Champions League.

Too many individuals, too many competing egos, not enough balance within the side, too much belief in their own hype – these are criticisms levelled at a team many argue fell short of expectations. It only got worse with the arrivals of David Beckham and Ronaldo.

Still, at least that original trio knew how it felt to conquer Europe.

As Paris Saint-Germain kiss goodbye to their own Galactico era, they never knew that emotional high.

Neymar left for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia and Lionel Messi departed for Inter Miami in the United States last summer. Now reports say Kylian Mbappe is closing in on his transfer to Real Madrid.

With Kylian Mbappe (centre) likely to join Lionel Messi (left) and Neymar (right) in leaving Paris Saint-Germain, the French club’s Galactico project to try and conquer Europe is ending

Mbappe turned down Real Madrid in 2022, signing a new PSG contract, but it looks like the Spanish giants will finally get their man this summer

Neymar walks past the European Cup after PSG lost the 2020 Champions League final

For two seasons, this dream attacking trio tried to achieve the holy grail for PSG, the one Qatar has spent nearly £1billion towards and Nasser Al-Khelaifi declared they ‘must’ achieve.

They crashed out of the Champions League in the last-16 on both occasions, losing to Real Madrid in 2022 and Bayern Munich in 2023.

Indeed, in 11 seasons under Qatari ownership, the Parisians have reached one Champions League final, one semi-final and four quarter-finals. On five occasions, they failed to get past the last-16.

Fine, they have dominated the domestic scene in France during that period but the main prize they really wanted has remained tantalisingly beyond their reach. Money has not been able to buy it.

Now with Messi and Neymar gone and Mbappe, their leading marksman in each of the past five seasons, likely to follow, PSG enter a new era and perhaps it’ll see a fresh approach.

Mbappe, 25, has scored 237 goals in 284 appearances for PSG, including 37 for them in the Champions League. It’s difficult to see what else he could have done.

He will believe he stands a better chance of finally being a European champion with Real, even if they won’t pay the £21.5million net salary he currently earns in Paris.

A reported £86m signing-on fee will handsomely compensate for that and preserves the wage structure of the Bernabeu dressing room.

Mbappe pocketed a £100m signing bonus when he snubbed Real in 2022 to extend his PSG contract until 2024 but even that wasn’t enough to dispel the constant speculation.

With Mbappe’s contract up in the summer, what is especially sweet for Real is that there’s no transfer fee.

Given PSG paid Monaco £166m for him in 2018 – and he’s become a much better player in the meantime – this must be enraging.

PSG’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi made it an obsession to win the Champions League

Brazilian star Neymar was left in tears after PSG were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich in 2020

That’s not as much as they paid for Brazilian star Neymar, however, whose £198m transfer fee paid to Barcelona in 2017 remains the world record.

He scored 118 times in 173 outings for the club and though he was key in getting them to the 2020 final, his time in Paris will be best remembered for constant injury setbacks.

Neymar lifted the Champions League with Barcelona but was left sobbing when PSG were beaten by Bayern in the 2020 final.

The only happy ending for the Brazilian, 31, is that he now earns £129m-a-year at Al-Hilal, six times what he was on at the Parc des Princes.

Then there was Messi. Having won the Champions League four times with Barcelona, surely the Argentine widely regarded as the greatest player of his generation would help them crack Europe?

There was no transfer fee but Messi reportedly earned £25.6m in his first season at PSG, rising to £34.1m in his second campaign.

Neymar is now one of the star attractions in Saudi Arabia, where he plays for Al-Hilal

Messi went stateside and signed for Major League Soccer franchise Inter Miami last year

Mbappe has an astonishing scoring record for PSG but looks likely to leave for nothing

Had he stayed in France, he would have pocketed another £34.1m this season. Presumably the loyalty bonus of a reported £12.8m per year almost flew out of the window.

Messi’s arrival meant PSG were paying the highest-ever squad wage bill in football, a staggering £643m for the 2021-22 season.

Messi wasn’t entirely responsible because other high earners like Sergio Ramos and Achraf Hakimi arrived in the same summer but it just illustrated the lengths to which PSG were prepared to go.

For context, the second-highest wage bill ever, according to Football Benchmark European Champions Report 2023, was Barcelona’s £478m outlay in 2019 – when Messi played for them.

The original Real Madrid Galacticos at least lifted the Champions League trophy in 2002

Messi scored 32 goals in 75 matches in all for PSG, winning back-to-back Ligue 1 titles, but he wasn’t able to inspire that elusive Champions League success.

So on those big three alone, PSG committed £364m in transfer fees, plus a further few hundred million in wages and bonuses to near the £1billion mark.

And yet, their attempt at creating Galactico team that trampled all over their European rivals was a failure.