Sources: Pochettino is no longer PSG manager

Mauricio Pochettino was fired as Paris Saint-Germain manager just months after guiding the team to the league title, sources have told ESPNFC.

The club has not yet announced the departure of the Argentine, but everything has been agreed on Wednesday morning. Pochettino had one year left on his contract.

The news comes as PSG are still trying to secure the signing of their new manager. Christophe Galtier, current Nice coach, is now the favorite and the favorite of the new sporting director Luis Campos, who replaced Leonardo. The discussions are positive and Galtier, who won the Ligue 1 title ahead of PSG with Lille in 2021, is enthusiastic about the job.

Zinedine Zidane was the priority of the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, owner of PSG and close to Zidane for many years.

Zidane has been without a club since leaving Madrid in the summer of 2021, but sources have told ESPN that he wants to coach the French national team after Didier Deschamps leaves. So it seems less and less likely that he will be PSG’s next boss.

Julen Lopetegui, the Sevilla coach, has also been offered, while River Plate’s Marcelo Gallardo and Sporting’s Rubén Amorim were other names on the list of finalists.

After what Kylian Mbappe dramatically snubbed Madrid to sign a new three-year deal with the French champions, PSG have made numerous changes to leading roles.

Sources have told ESPN that one of the key points in Mbappe’s talks with PSG centered around Leonardo, with whom he has an uneasy relationship.

In one of many rounds of talks with the PSG hierarchy, Mbappé said he was not interested in Leonardo as the club’s sporting director next season and identified transfer guru Campos as an alternative.

Campos was in Monaco when Mbappé burst onto the scene and won the Ligue 1 title in 2017, as well as reaching the Champions League semi-finals. The 57-year-old has a reputation for spotting top talent and securing big transfer fees for hidden gems, with Mbappé one of many notable successes.

Speculation about Pochettino’s future in the French capital has mounted since Real Madrid knocked PSG out of the Champions League in the round of 16, despite holding a 2-0 aggregate lead at halftime in the match. back.

Even PSG’s conquest of its 10th Ligue 1 title last month was marred by a protest from the club’s ultras, who left the game with 15 minutes remaining rather than celebrate with the team’s players.

Pochettino was heavily linked to taking over as Manchester United manager next season before the Premier League giants opted to appoint Erik Ten Hag from Ajax.

Sources told ESPN the decision came down to a choice between Ten Hag and Pochettino, with the Argentine’s contract situation at PSG (he has a deal until the summer of 2023) playing a part in United ultimately opting for the manager. Dutch.

Pochettino was appointed PSG manager in January 2021, following his dismissal from Tottenham at the end of 2019.