Christophe Galtier has replaced Mauricio Pochettino as the manager of Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino has been fired.
Pochettino left after 18 months, during which he won his first trophies as a manager: the Ligue 1 championship last season and the Coupe de France and Trophée des Champions the season before.
However, the former Tottenham manager fell short in the Champions League, losing in the semi-finals to Manchester City in 2021 and more damagingly to Real Madrid last season, and the uninspiring and unconvincing football that led them to the championship was widely criticized.
Galtier has left Nice after a single season to accept the position and has inherited a roster that includes Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, and Neymar. In May, Mbappé stunned Madrid by refusing to sign a new contract.
“When you’re here [at the Parc des Princes], you can feel the pressure,” Galtier, PSG’s first French coach since Laurent Blanc’s departure in 2016, said. “I recognize the responsibility I have for PSG to have a successful season. I have been preparing for it. If I accepted his position, it is because I am qualified for it. But we must do it collectively.”
Galtier led Nice to a fifth-place finish after three and a half years at Lille, where he rescued the club from relegation, finished second in his first full season, fourth the following year, and then won the championship before resigning. It was the first Ligue 1 victory for Lille in ten years.
Galtier, a former defender for Marseille and Lille, was previously the manager of Saint-Étienne from 2009 to 2017. He won the Coupe de la Ligue in 2013, the first trophy for the club since 1981. Two weeks ago, PSG’s president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, told Le Parisien, “Today we must be realistic; we don’t want flashy, bling-bling players anymore; it’s the end of glitter”.
Khelaifi denied on Tuesday that PSG had attempted to hire Zinedine Zidane. He said, “We never spoke with Zidane.” “I adore the player and the coach, but we have never communicated with him. Christophe Galtier has always been our top choice.
“Paris Saint-Germain confirms that it has ended its collaboration with Mauricio Pochettino,” the club said in a statement. The club thanks Mauricio Pochettino and his staff for their efforts and wishes them well in the future”.
