Paris Saint-Germain have called a press conference for Tuesday to announce Christophe Gaultier as the new coach of the French champions, replacing Mauricio Pochettino.
PSG announced on Monday that a press conference would be held at the club’s Parc des Princes stadium at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT), a sign that the occasion could be used to unveil Galtier. could.
PSG declined to confirm on Monday whether Gaultier would be unveiled when contacted by AFP, but Le Parisien and several other local media later posted on Twitter the 55-year-old’s visit to the club’s offices outside the French capital. Posted video footage of arrival.
PSG have been working on finalizing the appointment of a new coach for several weeks, but no steps have been taken under the contract for Pochettino and his backroom staff.
Reports in French media indicated that Gaultier, who was in charge of Ligue 1 rivals Nice last season, will arrive in Paris on Monday to sign a two-year contract with the Qatar-owned club.
PSG’s squad, which were on international duty in June, reported for pre-season training on Monday.
Gaultier, who left Nice last month, has developed a reputation over the past decade as a leading coach in the French club game.
He enjoyed eight successful years at Saint-Etienne, where he won the League Cup in 2013, before a four-year stint at Lille was crowned with a Ligue 1 title in 2021, when he overhauled PSG.
Pochettino is set to leave Paris after 18 months in charge, at which time he won the Ligue 1 title last season but was disappointingly out of the Champions League last 16 at the hands of Real Madrid.
At one time linked with a move to Zinedine Zidane, PSG’s expected swoon for Gaultier may have come as a surprise to some, who have opted for a more glamorous name on the bench from the Qatar-owned club. were expecting.
However, the former Portsmouth assistant manager had previously worked with Portuguese super scout Luis Campos, who had recently been named PSG’s football advisor and who built the Lille team that won the league under Gaultier.
PSG’s hopes of Champions League success in the short term were boosted by Kylian Mbappe’s decision at the end of last season to turn down Real Madrid and sign a new three-year deal at the Parc des Princes.
He has already made a signing ahead of the new campaign with the arrival of 22-year-old Portuguese midfielder Vitinha from Porto for a reported fee of 40 million euros ($42 million).
Mbappe, Lionel Messi and other PSG international stars will begin their pre-season training next week.
PSG will depart for a short pre-season tour of Japan to play three games between 20 and 25 July, before their first competitive match of the campaign on 31 July at the French season-opening Champions Trophy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Against Nantes.
League 1 season will start from the weekend of 6 and 7 August.
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