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Soon back to school
The professional workforce is expected in Saint-Germain-en-Laye for the resumption of training at the start of next week, on a date not yet officially communicated by the club.
The many internationals, like the French Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappé, could benefit from an additional week off since their season has stretched until mid-June.
Kylian Mbappé and Presnel Kimpembe during a Paris SG match on the Strasbourg lawn in Ligue 1 on April 29, 2022 Patrick HERTZOG AFP / Archives
The Parisians, in full, will play three matches from July 20 to 25 in Japan, a new destination for their traditional summer tour.
They will then travel to Tel Aviv to try to recover the Champions Trophy, lost last summer against Lille.
This time it will be necessary to beat the winner of the Coupe de France, Nantes, on July 31.
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Galtier in the waiting room
The adventure between PSG and its coach Pochettino, who has one year left on his contract, is over, but the two parties have apparently still not found common ground regarding their divorce, five weeks from now. the resumption of the French championship, on August 7 in Clermont.
Parisian president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi has in any case already turned the page and acknowledged negotiations with Christophe Galtier, champion of France 2021 with Lille and present on the bench of OGC Nice last season.
The president of Paris Saint-Germain Nasser Al-Khelaïfi at a press conference at the Parc des Princes on May 23, 2022 FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives
On Monday, the Riviera club hinted at a positive outcome for "NAK": "Christophe Galtier no longer leads the first team", said the club owned by Ineos, announcing the return of Swiss coach Lucien Favre.
The negotiation between the PSG and Nice relates to the two years of contract which remain to be honored on the side of Galtier, that is to say an invoice estimated at ten million euros, according to the press.
The capital club must also pay severance pay to Pochettino and his staff.
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Strengthen the midfield, record departures
Regarding the workforce, an in-depth renewal is expected since Kylian Mbappé extended with the club.
In the radius of arrivals, the specialized press insistently evokes two players: Milan Skriniar, Slovak defender of Inter, and Vitinha, Portuguese international midfielder playing in Porto.
But the primary task of Portuguese Luis Campos, now in charge of recruitment in place of Leonardo, is to find a partner for Marco Verratti in the midfield, a weakness identified by the club for several years.
The Georginho Wijnaldum bet did not give satisfaction, Leandro Paredes is not indisputable and Julian Draxler, even less.
Paris Saint-Germain's Italian midfielder Marco Verratti during a press conference during the club's training camp in Qatar on May 15, 2022 in Doha KARIM JAAFAR AFP
Among those courted, Aurélien Tchouaméni has gone to Real Madrid and Paul Pogba is close to returning to Juventus in Turin.
Conversely, some Parisians cling to a club which is tempted to push them away.
This is the case of Layvin Kurzawa, Thilo Kehrer and Mauro Icardi, for example.
The future of goalkeeper Kaylor Navas, in competition with Gianluigi Donnarumma, could be written elsewhere.
The degreasing operation seems difficult, as often at PSG, where high salaries slow down the desire to leave.
But the thorniest file could be that of Neymar, far from the hopes placed in him when he arrived in 2017 for a record transfer of 220 million euros.
The flamethrower release last Tuesday of President Nasser El-Khelaïfi, announcing "the end of glitter" and changes "to avoid injuries", in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien, could be interpreted as a charge against the Brazilian, often in the infirmary.
The club might be tempted to put him on the transfer list before he loses too much value in the market.
The Brazilian signed a contract extension last year which runs until 2025 but, according to L'Equipe, optional clauses would allow his lease to be extended until 2027.
© 2022 AFP