Paris Saint-Germain have reached an agreement with coach Mauricio Pochettino by which the Argentine will leave his role before next season after 18 months at the helm, according to Athletic.
Pochettino is believed to have met with the PSG hierarchy last week to discuss the 2021-22 campaign, during which his team won Ligue 1 but lost to eventual winner Real Madrid in the round of 16. Champions League final.
It is understood that the conversation produced a mutual decision that the former PSG captain will not continue in the house of the Parc dels Princes, and both parties identified that the separation of paths is the most sensible step.
Since Pochettino’s contract was scheduled to expire in 2023, his departure has yet to materialize. But the club is already looking for its new leader; Christophe Galtier of Nice is believed to be among several options.
Pochettino’s departure will follow that of sporting director Leonardo last week. He was replaced by Luis Campos, who will work as PSG’s football adviser.
Pochettino had a chance to leave the French capital last summer: Real placed him at the top of the list of candidates to succeed Zinedine Zidane and Tottenham Hotspur showed a keen interest in naming his former coach as to replace José Mourinho, however, a movement for 50 years. -old did not materialize.
This was followed by Pochettino establishing himself as PSG’s third coach to lead them to a European Cup semi-final, beating Barcelona-inspired Lionel Messi and reigning champions Bayern Munich.
His charges also lifted the French Cup, and while they were surprisingly placed in the top flight by Lille, Pochettino had inherited a team that was third when he took over from Thomas Tuchel in January 2021. and improved their points-per-match ratio.
On another occasion, his ownership of Qatar changed coach in the middle of the season, replacing Antoine Kombouare with Carlo Ancelotti in December 2011, who also did not achieve a league victory.
Georginio Wijnaldum, Achraf Hakimi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Messi and Nuno Mendes were recruited at a significant cost to strengthen Pochettino’s staff and sealed the French title faster than their counterparts in England, Germany, Italy and Spain. .
They did so by a wide margin and Manchester City were the only winners to earn more points, although question marks persisted about the style of play and fans expressed their displeasure. Meanwhile, constant links with potential employers such as Manchester United became an issue in Pochettino’s tenure.
It surprised City to reach the Champions League semi-finals with Tottenham in 2019, but their PSG were eliminated by them in 2021 and the nature of a collapse against Real in March was fatal for the its future.
Barcelona, Bayern Munch, City and Real were rivals in 10 of Pochettino’s 14 Champions League games at PSG, but in the end suffered the same result as Tuchel, Unai Emery, Laurent Blanc and Ancelotti. . Each of these quartet bars Blanc has continued to work at the elite level and has subsequently collected most of the European silver, which indicates that there is life outside of PSG.
There has been criticism of what Pochettino was able to achieve with the resources at his disposal, but the comparable challenges experienced by those predecessors suggest that PSG’s unique environment may not be the most accurate barometer of coaching skills. He was not helped to reach the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, nor were the protests and anger directed at some players and managers at the matches.
The collateral damage that Pochettino has shown goes beyond PSG, as the long-term favorite to secure United’s place lost Erik ten Hag.
Given how close he was to this vacancy and the respect in which the former Espanyol and Southampton coach seems to remain throughout the sector, there is a good chance he will stay in the fight to lead opportunities in the future.
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