Leonardo granted an interview to the Journal Du Dimanche yesterday. We hadn't heard it since the start of the health crisis. For Virginie Phulpin, everything changed in football in a few weeks, except the sports director of PSG.
Leonardo always uses the same method.
Stroke in the direction of the hair to better bite right after. The answer to the first question is a model of its kind. Was the decision to stop Ligue 1 too quick? "I will be careful not to pass judgment on what has been decided. Especially since our president worked in the interest of French football and not in that of our only club". He places himself above the fray to better reproach others for their partisan attitudes. When you're a champion like PSG, it's easy to look good. And Leonardo does not forget to put the Champions League in the context of this stoppage of the championship. Before the crisis, he dreamed that his players would not make a mountain of the European grail, it is served. This stop can justify all defeats, and any victory would be all the more exceptional.
Leonardo also goes into the concrete, especially in terms of staff. PSG does not keep any players at the end of the contract, and will try to bet on young people. Casually, in this context of crisis, it will save substantial wages. Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani, these are big salaries that go. And when he talks about recruitment, Leonardo explains that it will be difficult, that it will be necessary to be clever. We would almost give him a small room. Then we remember that he built his team around Mbappé and Neymar. We have known more difficult crises!
There is still a real problem, it is that the PSG cannot keep its young players trained at the club
This is a problem for all clubs. What is surprising is that it even happens at PSG. The club trains young people, gives them a chance, and yet they choose to leave. This is the case of defender Tanguy Kouassi. He is 18 years old, he has played 13 matches this season, which is already a lot, and that is not enough for him. There are two problems: do these young players realize the opportunity offered to them to train with internationals in all positions? And above all, there is a settlement problem. Players trained in a club should have the obligation to sign their first contract there. We can only agree with Leonardo. This rule must be reformed. You see, it's not just communication.
So he strokes in the direction of the hair, and at the end he bites. Olympique Lyonnais is paying the price. Lyon has approached several PSG players. Response from Leonardo: "If these are ways of doing things, then we are going to do it too. With girls as with boys". It looks like Cyrano de Bergerac. And at the end of the sending, it touches. Players only have to be as sharp as their sports director in their duels.