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By Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip)

Paris Saint-Germain wasted little time in replacing former coach Laurent Blanc with Unai Emery this week. Less than 24 hours after the French champions confirmed Le President’s exit on Monday, the capital club were welcoming the Spaniard from Sevilla.

Emery won the UEFA Europa League three times consecutively with Los Rojiblancos and although that is impressive, it is not the sort of feat that PSG should have been as easily impressed by right now. Les Parisiens needed an elite tactician to take them to the next level. 

Rumours that the Ligue 1 giants were chasing Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone earlier this summer were along the right lines. However, El Cholo ultimately opted to remain at his beloved Vicente Calderon, leaving PSG to go for potential over proven quality instead.

Plumping for Emery could be a risk as Blanc won 11 titles in his three highly successful seasons in Paris, which included two domestic clean sweeps.

PSG’s ambitious owners, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), are intent on success in the UEFA Champions League and no number of Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue or Trophee des Champions trophies will change that.

The French capital outfit have been attracted to Emery’s “European pedigree” after winning the Europa League three times in a row. 

Not to belittle Emery or Sevilla’s fantastic achievement but it is not of the level that PSG should be looking at right now. In a summer when both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola took new jobs in the English Premier League, the kings of Le Championnat should have been going after those figures.

Having reached the quarterfinals four consecutive times, Les Parisiens needed an elite coach. They needed somebody with a proven track record; capable of pushing them into the semi-finals and beyond like former coach Carlo Ancelotti. 

Emery might be that figure in the future but it is not clear that he is that man right now, so he must be considered a risk. PSG are gambling with the trajectory of their lavish project, which until now, was headed in the right direction but had stagnated a little.

The 44-year-old from Hondarribia arrives at Parc des Princes without a single domestic title to his name. Considering Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid’s dominance of La Liga, that is perhaps understandable. The same excuse does not extend to the Champions League, though.

On the stage that matters most to PSG’s Qatari paymasters, Emery is at his least impressive. 

The former Spartak Moscow, Valencia CF and UD Almeria boss has only made it out of the group stages once in four attempts and that was in his debut season in the competition back in 2010-11 with Los Che.

Emery is a bright young coach who was able to profit from the phenomenal work done by Sevilla’s sporting director, Monchi, in his three seasons at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. He, like his new team, are far from being the finished article though.

Following on from Blanc, whose only conceivable failure was not leading PSG into the semi-finals of last season’s Champions League after a pathetic display over two legs against Manchester City, Emery will have to learn fast.

Not only must he better his poor record at continental football’s top table, he must keep the Ligue 1 champions as dominant domestically as they were under his predecessor. The bar has been set extremely high, so that in itself is a sizeable task.

Emery should be under no illusions though. While failing to maintain the domestic hegemony established under Blanc could lose him the job after one season, another Champions League quarterfinal finish will also be deemed insufficient at Parc des Princes.

Put simply, Emery must succeed on the stage he has failed to shine on so far. He will be given the tools to take PSG to the semi-finals and beyond but the problem under Blanc was not necessarily the team’s ability, it was more a lack of ideas.

Emery is talented young coach with a reputation for attack-minded football; he will need to get his fresh concepts across immediately if he is to succeed in Paris.