No contact between Zidane and PSG, Al-Khelaifi claims

In the wake of Zinedine Zidane’s potential return to management, Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has claimed that the club did not contact the Frenchman about their soon-to-be-vacant manager role.

Al-Khelaifi is preparing to axe Mauricio Pochettino, who he appointed a little over 18 months ago as manager. The Argentine won three trophies at the club including their record-tying tenth Ligue 1 trophy but failed to deliver on his key mandate.

PSG are obsessed with winning the UEFA Champions League and all their spending in the past decade has been for the sake of that singular goal. Pochettino is most famous for making Tottenham Hotspur into one of the Premier League’s top sides, effectively expanding the list of big teams in the club to six. The former Premier League top-six manager is a Champions League finalist and his run to the final is one of the best in recent history.

Hired for the sole purpose of taking the club all the way in the tournament, he failed in the round of 16 of the 2021/22 season and as a result, is poised to lose his job. Former Real Madrid manager Zidane has been the top name linked to the job with the media alleging contact between the club’s representatives and the legendary Frenchman.

But the latest statement from the PSG boss claims that he was never contacted about the role and everything in the media is just a rumour.

What has been said

Al-Khelaifi denied ever speaking to Zidane formally or informally and that he was never in his plans, to begin with. The Qatari businessman said: "I'll tell you one thing: we never spoke with him, neither directly nor indirectly. Many clubs are interested in him, national teams too, but we have never discussed with him. We have chosen a coach who will be the best for what we want to put in place."

The PSG chief went on to confirm the news about another one of the names linked to the role as true.

Christophe Galtier, current manager of OGC Nice, emerged as a name for the role after it was reported at a time that Zidane had turned the French giants’ advances down. Al-Khelaifi confirmed their interest in the former LOSC Lille manager, who pipped PSG to the 2020/21 title, to be true, but gave no details on the progress of the discussions.

"We are discussing with Nice, it is not a secret," Al-Khelaifi, chairman of the European Clubs Association board, said. "I hope that we will find an agreement quickly, but I respect Nice and the president [Jean-Pierre] Rivere, everyone defends their interests."

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