Paris Saint-Germain has sacked its coach Thomas Tuchel four months after he led them to the Champions League final in Lisbon.
Tuchel who joined Les Parisiens at the beginning of the 2018-19 season won back-to-back league titles as well as the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue in 2020.
However, PSG is currently placed third in Ligue 1 having lost four of their 17 games in the league this season and are a point behind leaders Lyon.
They managed to beat RB Leipzig and Manchester United to top their group in the Champions League ahead and will next face Barcelona in the last 16 of the competition.
Tuchel replaced Unai Emery on a two-year contract in June 2018 and was given an extension last May which would have seen him stay in Paris until the end of the current campaign.
But a public fallout over player recruitment with the club’s sporting director Leonardo in October might have pushed his luck so far.
Tuchel said: “We lose too many players on free transfers. It is too, too much. We cannot ask this squad the same thing as we did last season.”
The following day Leonardo voiced his disapproval of Tuchel’s comments, saying “you have to respect the people above you”.
“I didn’t like his comments, the club didn’t like them either,” he said.
“We have to understand the moment we are going through. If someone is not happy, it is easy – we can talk. But if you decide to stay, you have to respect the people above you.”
PSG will be in action against Saint-Etienne on January 6 after beating Strasbourg 4-0 in the league on Wednesday night.
Mauricio Pochettino could land PSG job
Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is in pole position and close to becoming the next manager of Paris Saint-Germain.
Pochettino who was replaced by Jose Mourinho at Spurs after he was dismissed in November 2019, is set to land the job ahead of Thiago Motta, with whom the PSG has had contact in recent days according to reports.
The Argentine, who played for PSG from 2001 to 2003, told RMC Sport in 2016: “Coach one day at PSG, that would make me happy. It is a dream of mine. It is a club that I follow a lot. I try to watch their matches. Especially in the Champions League. Come back to PSG one day, why not?”
He also told Sky Sports in November when asked about his next role and where it could be: “I don’t know. I’m not going to close any door. I learnt when I was really, really young, [Pochettino’s former coach] Jorge Griffa would say, ‘Mauricio, football is going to dictate your way’.
“And I am waiting to feel what is the right project for us, which is the right way to take.
“My energy is full, I’d love to be involved in the game but at the same time I need to understand that at the moment is a good moment that you need to wait.
“You need to wait for the right project and for sure football is going to bring what football wants and we need to be open and to accept or not.”
How is it my concern now?
Ahh nooo