Nasser Al Khelaifi sat down with MARCA to talk about PSG’s new project following the departure of Leonardo and the arrival of Luis Campos at the helm of the sporting directorate.
The PSG president addressed all of the hot topics at the Parc des Princes. On the coach, Al Khelaifi did not yet confirm Mauricio Pochettino’s departure and ruled out Zinedine Zidane’s possible arrival.
“I just want to make it clear that I liked Zidane as a player and I like him as a coach, but we haven’t spoken to him directly or indirectly, ever,” he told MARCA.
Al Khelaifi has also come to Kylian Mbappe’s defence and, contrary to Florentino Perez’s claim that he had changed his mind in the last ten days, he has his version.
“I turned down 180 million [euros] last summer from Real Madrid because I knew Kylian wanted to stay at PSG. I know him very well, I know what he and his family want, and they aren’t influenced by money.
“He has chosen to play here for his city, his club and his country, and for the sporting project. He only thinks about playing and winning.”
Where the PSG president was toughest was when it came to talking about LaLiga president Javier Tebas.
“What we do, we do because we know we can. It is not our style to talk about other leagues, clubs or federations,” he said. “We don’t give lessons and we are not going to allow anyone to give us lessons. It’s the same thing every year. We are going to continue building our project.”
The interview in MARCA with Al Khelaifi, who has also insisted that “the Super League is dead” and has ratified his commitment to the new Padel circuit, will be published in full on MARCA.com at 21:00 CEST.
He also talks about Leo Messi, Neymar and the new transfer policy to be implemented by Luis Campos. Although the president has not confirmed Christophe Galtier, from Nice, everything seems to indicate that he will be announced this week as the new PSG coach.
