PSG's Champions League win based on fundamentals which apply from Leeds United to Harrogate Town

It was a word that cropped up as football reflected on not a great European Cup final on Saturday, but one of its great team performances.

Paris Saint-Germain are supposed to be one of the baddies of modern football, but if you put to the back your mind why they are doing what they are, the way they went about dismantling Inter 5-0 was invigorating. And it contained lessons even for Yorkshire's clubs.

Being likeable is part of sportswashing. Because it has been obvious that was what Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) – involved in Leeds United under Andrea Radrizzani – were up to, because of their footballing methods and, let us be honest, jealousy those petrodollars were not being pumped to their clubs, to many fans PSG were anything but.

They are not the original sportswashers – look at some of the dubious places Muhammad Ali fought more than half a century ago or watch Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda film of the 1936 Olympics. They were not even the first of football's 21st Century wave, but signing David Beckham, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi and co made them perhaps the most high-profile.

Domestic football has never been an issue for PSG under Qatari ownership – they won the double this year, opening a back door for Liam Rosenior’s Strasbourg to enter the Conference League play-offs – and after 13 years banging their head against a brick wall, they seemed finally to have got it when it comes to Europe.

You might think there is not a lot Rotherham United can learn from a club which burns through tens of millions of Euros every transfer window but what actually got them from shallow glamourpusses to winners on the main European stage are fundamentals that apply across the board.

Even post-QSI, the link to Leeds is more obvious. When they won a place in the Premier League, chairman Paraag Marathe pledged "every penny we're allowed to spend" this summer. Even with financial fair play, that is a lot.

And the Premier League tables of the last two seasons show they cannot really afford to scrimp if they want to be there more than a year.

But PSG's turnaround was a reminder it needs to be spent on team players, with chemistry in mind.

"We don't want flashy, bling-bling anymore,” declared chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi this time last year.

Nothing summed up PSG better than a front three of Neymar, Messi and Mbappe. All stand alongside the all-time greats – perhaps the little Argentinian genius is No 1 – but were indulged to a disgusting level. Result: No Champions League titles.

Contrast that with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia tracking deep into his half in the 79th minute of a final he minutes earlier put his team 4-0 up in. At £59m from Napoli in January, he was not cheap either but free of ego.

In two years under Daniel Farke, Leeds have built a core and an ethic. They replaced Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter with lesser players last summer and produced a better team.

So when they chase the high-quality players needed to bridge the gap they must build on that foundation, not bulldoze it.

Ditto Bradford City, who on Monday ruthlessly moved on captain Richie Smallwood, and Doncaster Rovers stepping up to League One.

PSG also twigged youth is the way forward. Theirs was the second youngest team in the knockout stages, Inter's the oldest. At the end of a wearing season, it showed.

And the only thing better than youth is homegrown youth.

Two-goal Desire Doue cost £42m move from Rennes. The U-turn only took place last summer and youth takes time to develop.

But the fifth goal from Senny Mayulu, also 19, was hopefully a nod to things to come. He is from the suburbs of Paris – which produced 30 players at the last World Cup – and came through the academy.

Barnsley, Huddersfield and Rotherham may not be Paris, but still have talent to mine. Fortunately, they realise.

Conor Hourihane gave league debuts to Kieran Flavell and Jonathan Bland as interim head coach, and new contracts once the first word was dropped from his title. It was nothing his predecessors had not done, it is how Barnsley operate.

Rotherham have not been good enough at that in recent years but made great play of first contracts to Kane Richardson, James Clarke, and Reece Wilson, a bat signal their Rawmarsh-born manager Matt Hamshaw is thinking the right way.

One of Kevin Nagle first decisions after buying Huddersfield Town was to revive their academy. Harrogate Town set up theirs up in 2021.

Sydie Peck lifted Sheffield United morale in the season just gone almost as much as Oliver Arblaster at the end of the campaign before. The day both are regularly in harness cannot come soon enough.

Keeping an identity is important in these multi-cultural days. No one wants Hull City to become just another Turkish club; Sheffield Wednesday can hopefully get plenty from academy-produced goalkeeper Pierce Charles before he brings in a similarly big transfer fee to Jacob Greaves and Keane Lewis-Potter.

The fundamentals of running a football club will always be the same. Seeing teams like PSG succeed after years of failed short-cuts is a welcome reminder.