Paris Saint-Germain have sacked coach Thomas Tuchel, with PSG’s former defender, ex-Tottenham Hotspur coach Mauricio Pochettino, lined up as his replacement, various media reports said on Thursday.
The French champions declined to make a statement to confirm the shock Christmas Eve axing as claimed by L’Equipe, news outlet RMC and Germany’s Bild.
“No idea” a club spokesman replied when asked when the news would be confirmed.
Photo: Reuters
PSG forward Kylian Mbappe paid tribute to Tuchel on social media.
“Unfortunately it’s the law of football but no-one will forget your time here,” the World Cup winner wrote on Instagram. “You wrote a great line of the club’s history and I say thank you coach.”
Pochettino, who spent two-and-a-half years as a player at the club, could take his first training session on Jan. 3 after the winter break.
Tuchel, 47, arrived at the Parc des Princes on a two-year contract in 2018 and guided the Parisians to their first UEFA Champions League final last season, but now, if the reports are confirmed, less than three months on from the final defeat to Bayern Munich in Lisbon, the German has become the first PSG coach to leave mid-season since Antoine Kombouare was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti in December 2011.
Tuchel, who is set to depart six months before the end of his deal, guided PSG to a round-of-16 clash with Barcelona in this season’s Champions League, despite being plagued by injuries, suspensions and COVID-19 infections.
In contrast to his predecessors, Tuchel appeared adept at man-managing his band of superstar players, giving Neymar back the smile that was missing during the Unai Emery era, but the Qatari-backed club were thought to be unhappy with comments in the press by Tuchel, the most recent an unauthorized interview which appeared in German media on Wednesday.
“We missed winning the Champions League by one match, and we never had the feeling that we had convinced people and that they recognized our performance. Sometimes that makes you a little sad or angry,” Tuchel told Sport1.
He also complained about the demands imposed upon him.
“During the first six months I was asking myself: ‘Am I still a coach … or a minister of sport?’” he said.
He was reportedly given his marching orders less than 24 hours after Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace which left them a point off the top of the Ligue 1 table ahead of the winter break.
If his dismissal is confirmed he leaves PSG with two Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de France and a Coupe de la Ligue.
Tuchel in 2017 lost his job as Borussia Dortmund coach three days after guiding the Bundesliga side to a DFB Pokal victory and reportedly falling out with the club’s hierarchy.
The new man in the PSG dugout when the season resumes in the New Year is to be Pochettino, RMC reported.
The Argentine, a popular PSG centerback between 2001 and 2003, left his position as Spurs coach in November last year, six months after leading them into their maiden Champions League final.
The 48-year-old transformed Spurs’ fortunes during his five-and-a-half-year reign, but failed to win a trophy.
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