New manager in Paris
Paris Saint-Germain began perhaps the biggest move of their summer transfer window on Wednesday, when the Ligue 1 giants confirmed that they had parted ways with manager Christophe Galtier exactly one year after hiring the head coach to replace Mauricio Pochettino at the club. In a brief statement, the Parisian side thanked the manager for his service, in which Galtier won the Trophée des Champions and Ligue 1 title in his solitary season at the club.
Despite that, the 56-year-old’s time at PSG was clearly deemed a failure by the decision makers at the club, who have now opted to replace Galtier with former Barcelona and Spain manager Luis Enrique. At a press conference shortly following his predecessor’s announced departure, Enrique was introduced to the French press and the wider world as the next man tasked with trying to win success with the French giants.
European football is a chaotic place at the best of times, but PSG often seem intent on providing as much drama off the pitch as Neymar & Co. often offer on it. Indeed, Enrique will be the French side’s seventh manager in the last 10 years. So what exactly is going on in the French capital, why was Galtier unceremoniously sacked just one year into the job and what will Enrique need to do to avoid a similar fate?
Why did PSG sack Christophe Galtier after one year?
Transfermarkt Area Manager for France, Ronan Caroff: “Considering PSG’s international ambitions for more than a decade now, getting eliminated from Champions League in the Round of 16 would put any manager in a tough situation. Add to this elimination in the French cup in the Round of 16 by their rivals Marseille and winning Ligue 1 by only one point against Lens is far below what we expect of PSG on the national scene. But also, when Galtier and “football advisor” Luis Campos both joined the club a year ago, the key plan was to get past the era of “flashy, bling bling” signings, according to president Nasser Al Khelaifi. In other words, less emphasis on major names and more on players that could really make the team progress. But clearly, it didn’t click this year, with various signings being labelled as clear errors. So with all this combined, Galtier’s position had appeared fragile for the past few months.”
Every PSG manager since QSI bought the club in 2011
What challenges will Luis Enrique have to overcome at PSG?
Transfermarkt Area Manager for France, Ronan Caroff: “It won’t be different for Enrique as it was for Galtier, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and others: PSG is one of the toughest clubs to manage in the world. For a while now, managers have struggled to build a team that really matches their plans, often burdened by players that are at the club on long contracts and don’t fit in with the new coach’s plans. With already more than 30 players under contract and many transfer targets, we can predict that not all players will get the playing time they want and Enrique will have to handle this frustration carefully.
“Also, even if it isn’t at all on him, the spectre of Kylian Mbappé not extending his contract and therefore leaving for free in June 2024 could be a heavy weight on a team that often had a dependency on their key players. But on a more optimistic side, one could argue that with 16 contracts ending in 2024, Enrique could have the opportunity to conduct a full reset of the team for 24/25. If he’s given trust longer than one season. Because even if it’s real for every club, it might be even more real for PSG: for every failure by the team, the finger will be pointed at the manager. And the past tells us that sacking the manager has often appeared to be the only solution to try and fix problems at PSG.”
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