Champions League, locker room, transfer window… The challenges awaiting Christophe Galtier at PSG

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Paris has a new face. While rumors sent Zinédine Zidane to the head of PSG, the Qatari leaders finally set their sights on Christophe Galtier. The 55-year-old technician was officially inducted on Tuesday July 5 and signed up for a two-year term. After adventures with Saint-Etienne, Lille, then Nice, the Marseillais will train his fourth club in Ligue 1, while changing galaxy, especially in terms of means and ambitions. Overview of the challenges awaiting champion of France 2021 (with Losc) in Paris.

Win the Champions League

The PSG project has been clear since the 2011 takeover of the club by QSI, the Qatari investment fund: to win the Champions League. With only one final on the clock, at the end of the particular exercise of the “Final Eight” in 2020, the objective has not been achieved, despite huge expenditure to acquire stars. Above all, the quest remains marred by some resounding failures for the capital club.

Before Galtier, five coaches (Carlo Ancelotti, Laurent Blanc, Unai Emery, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino) failed. For his part, the former coach of Lille has limited experience in C1. Since his first season on a bench in 2009, while he has had several Europa League campaigns with Saint-Etienne and Lille, he has only participated in one Champions League (in 2020 with Losc). Eliminated in the group stage, Christophe Galtier has a dying record at the highest European level (0 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses).

Tidy up the locker room

With his successes, Christophe Galtier has acquired a reputation as a leader of men. His title of champion with Lille, gleaned from the nose and beard of PSG in 2021, as well as the level of competitiveness of AS Saint-Etienne during its passage between 2009 and 2017 (a League Cup and four European qualifications ) speak for him. But in Paris, the challenge is quite different in a group made up of stars. His mission will be to restore order in a locker room where cohesion seems to have disappeared. His predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino, didn’t seem to find the right method to get a group in unison over the long term.

“Galtier is very good at managing his teams”, remembers former Stéphanois Jonathan Brison, who played under the technician’s orders between 2012 and 2016. “He had notably imposed the collective breakfast, and let us play cards before training. He absolutely wanted the group to live well”, remembers the left-back. He describes a Galtier very open to dialogue, but who is not afraid to impose his decisions. “I remember a match at the Parc des Princes where Galtier put Aubameyang, our best player that season, on the bench. He had his reasons, but it worked because we won.”

In Paris, “Galette” will have to establish his authority and find his place among the big names such as Lionel Messi, seven-time Ballon d’Or, Neymar, or Kylian Mbappé, placed at the center of the Parisian project after his extension last month. To do this, the technician will be able to count on a strong character.

Improve the workforce by collaborating with Luis Campos

Christophe Galtier will be scrutinized on his first transfer market this summer but not as much as his predecessors. The task will mainly be left to the new “football adviser” of PSG, Luis Campos, poached by management for this specific purpose. Christophe Galtier and the Portuguese know each other well. They built Losc crowned champion of France in 2021. The talent scout notably recruited Renato Sanches, Jonathan Ikoné, Jonathan Bamba or Victor Osimhen. Galtier knew how to make them play together, to lead some to an unexpected triumph a little over a year ago.

However, the French technician has already shown in the past that he likes to have control over transfers. “In Saint-Etienne, the leaders gave him blind confidence to shape his team“Recalls Jonathan Brison. It remains to be seen who will have the last word between him and the Portuguese.

The projects are multiple. In addition to succeeding in surrounding Kylian Mbappé well, Christophe Galtier and the management of PSG will also have to manage the file of Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, challenged by Gianluigi Donnaruma this season in the Parisian goals. Then come the cases of players with big salaries who were little used last season, but who cannot find a base like Julian Draxler, Thilo Kehrer or Mauro Icardi.

Impose your style of play

Will Galtier be able to impose his paw on the Parisian game? In the various teams he attended, the coach enjoyed success thanks to his particularly solid defensive block, coupled with high speed forward throw on recovery. A common thread which was in particular the strength of his Losc. “He asks the attackers to make the effort to help in defence, everyone must give themselves to 1000% in every game”, details Jonathan Brison.

But on arriving in Paris, Galtier, who remains on a rather disappointing season with Nice, recovers a team that runs little. After three months of competition last season, a study carried out by the Professional Football League revealed that the capital club was even the one who had traveled the fewest kilometers in Ligue 1. There is no doubt that Christophe Galtier will have to adapt his methods somewhat. .

Finally, he will have to be the one who manages to launch once and for all the famous “MNM”, the incredible attacking trio of PSG made up of Mbappé, Neymar and Messi. While the keys to the Paris attack will likely be given to the French striker, Christophe Galtier will have to make adjustments to ensure the other two Paris stars can also shine. In particular, he will have to revive Lionel Messi. With only six goals in Ligue 1, the Argentinian had his worst statistical season since the 2005-2006 financial year.

In the past, Galtier distinguished himself by his coaching of very successful attacking trios. First there was the Aubameyang-Brandao-Hamouma trio in Saint-Etienne, especially in 2013 when the three Stéphanois strikers scored 41 goals. In 2019, in Lille, the “Bip-Bip” had terrorized the defenses of Ligue 1 with Jonathan Bamba, Jonathan Ikoné and Nicolas Pépé (40 achievements). But with 63 goals in all competitions last season, the Parisian attacking trident is evolving into a much higher dimension. To succeed at the head of PSG, Christophe Galtier will therefore have to deal with offensive assets that he has never had to manage until now.


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