PSG draft in Portugal international Gonçalo Ramos from Benfica

Less than a week before the start of the Ligue 1 season, French champions Paris Saint-Germain bolstered their attacking options with the arrival Gonçalo Ramos from Benfica.

The Benfica and Portugal international Goncalo Ramos joined the French champions Paris Saint-Germain on loan for a season with an option to buy. REUTERS - CARL RECINE

The 22-year-old Portugal international will spend the season at the Parc des Princes on loan with an option to buy.

"It's a great source of pride and happiness to be joining Paris Saint-Germain," said Ramos. "PSG is one of the biggest clubs in the world with one of the best squads."

🗣💬 « Maintenant, c'est à toi d'écrire l'histoire du Paris Saint-Germain ! »#WelcomeGonçaloRamos pic.twitter.com/Ec8afXyNFj

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) August 7, 2023

Ramos's arrival will raise further questions over the future of the club's record goal-scorer Kylian Mbappé.

He has been frozen out of first team affairs since refusing to sign a new deal. The 24-year-old says he prefers to honour the contract he signed in May 2022 and stay until the end of the 2023/24 season and then leave.

But PSG supremos do not want him to depart without the club receiving a transfer fee and say they will sell him this summer.

Should Mbappé depart, Ramos could provide a capable replacement. He made his professional debut in July 2020 in his late teens and by the 2021/2022 season had established himself as a permanent fixture in the first-team.

Last season, he scored 27 times in 47 matches across all competitions and featured in the Portugal squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where he famously scored a hat-trick against Switzerland in the last-16.

"We are delighted to welcome Gonçalo Ramos to our PSG family as a new and exciting striker," said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

"Gonçalo is a fantastic young international player who is ultra-motivated and fights for the team. These are the types of players who are the future of our great institution." 

PSG are also close to signing the Barcelona striker Ousmane Dembélé as well as Kolo Muani from the German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt.