“If you can not beat them, join them”, Paris Saint-Germain must have thought to, at the proposal of Kylian Mbappé, deliver him the ‘keys’ of his new project to Luís Filipe Hipólito Reis Pedrosa Campos (Esposende, 1964).
The one who was a ‘scout’ for Real Madrid during José Mourinho’s time had become the particular ‘kryptonite’ for PSG. And is not for less. Paris Saint-Germain has only lost three Leagues in the ‘Qatar Sports Investments era’ (QSI): Montpellier 2011-12, Monaco 2016-17 and Lille 2020-21.
Well, two of his ‘executioners’, Monaco and Lille, had Luis Campos as ‘architect’. As soon as he landed in El Principado, he released several ‘heavyweights’: James Rodríguez, Abidal, Rivière… Instead, he opted for ‘new blood’: Benjamin Mendy, Fabinho, Lemar, Bernardo Silva, Bakayoko…
The eleven type of Monaco champion of Ligue 1 2016-17
His great ‘discovery’, in any case, was Kylian Mbappé. Or Mbappé-Lottin, as he called himself in the beginning. “It is true that I have known the family well since Kylian was 14 years old. [cuando le llevó al Mónaco]. We have a great friendship, but that’s it.”acknowledged Luis Campos a year ago in an interview with ‘L’Équipe’.
the hardest yet
Luis Campos surpassed himself, if possible, with Lille. It came from the hand of the Spanish-Luxembourgish Gérard López in 2017 and turned the Stade Pierre-Mauroy ‘upside down’. He opted, in the first place, for Marcelo Bielsa.
The turning point, however, It was marked by the arrival of Christophe Galtier on the bench.Luis Campos left his ‘seal’ again with strategic signings that ended up relieving the club’s battered coffers: Pépé, Thiago Mendes, Rafael Leao, Osimhen…
In almost four years, he signed 79 players and released 73 with a profit of 125 million euros. Special mention deserves the ‘select’ group of players who signed and who were decisive for Lille would end up winning Ligue 1 10 years later:Celik, Soumaré, Ikoné, Bamba, Reinildo, Renato Sanches, Yazici, Jonathan David, Botman, Burak Yilmaz…
However, Campos could not enjoy the success of the ‘dogos’. the sports director he left early, coinciding with the departure of Gérard López from the club and the resignation of Marc Ingla as general manager.
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Luis Campos: PSG hands over the keys to its project to its worst enemy