The teenager wants to find himself among the professionals at the Parc des Princes as quickly as possible – and he is confident it is possible
Young Paris Saint-Germain defender Timothee Pembele is confident that he is capable of breaking into the first team at Parc des Princes one day.
Still only 17, the youngster already has his eyes sets on graduating to eventually play alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the starting XI.
He is not intimidated by the challenge of forcing his way into coach Thomas Tuchel’s thinking, doubtless inspired by the efforts of Colin Dagba, who has made himself a regular in the matchday squad since breaking into the team a year ago.
A raft of youngsters were shipped out over the summer, but that does not worry Pembele, who believes the decision to make the Under-19 side the new ‘reserves’ will only fast-track aspiring stars like himself into the top side.
“It is possible to succeed for a young PSG player at the club,” he told Goal. “You just have to work and have patience.
“Today, there is only one step between the Under-19s and the professional team. In case of injury, they call us. For us, that’s good.”
He was, however, sad to see Thiago Motta, the previous youth coach, depart in the summer, with the former Brazil international highly rated on the training ground.
“It is true that we have progressed a lot with this coach, both tactically and technically,” he said. “He is a pure tactician, who helped us a lot last season. We were all disappointed to see him go. But it’s his choice. Now he leads Genoa in Serie A. Everything is going well for him, and that’s good.”
Meanwhile, Pembele, who is currently away with the France Under-17 team at the World Cup for that age group, has his eyes set on short-term targets that he believes are achievable.
“At PSG, I want to play with the professional team as quickly as possible,” he said. “And with the national team, I want to win the World Cup. We are among the favourites and we can win it. But we will have to build in power and, having won already, our second game against South Korea can ensure qualification.”
Pembele featured as France overcame Chile 2-0 in their opening encounter on Sunday with the second match in the competition, which is played in Brazil, coming on Wednesday.
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