This is one of his qualities: Christophe Galtier always adapts. His heart too. “Some people can’t understand it, but I support all the clubs I’ve been to”, he said to World in December 2018. At 55, the Marseillais will therefore learn to love Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG), of which he will officially become the coach for two seasons, learned the world Monday July 4th. The one who was coach of OGC Nice last season must be inducted Tuesday by PSG, which called a press conference at 2 p.m. at the Parc des Princes. On Monday, he was seen in the administrative offices of the Parisian club in the evening according to videos posted on social networks.
Christophe Galtier succeeds Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino and arrives at a position that seemed promised to another Marseillais: Zinedine Zidane. Would the child of Caillols be a default choice compared to that of Castellane? At PSG, the appointment of the coach has often been the work of the prince (or rather the emir) since the takeover of the club by Qatar Sport Investments in 2011. Christophe Galtier, he appears as the candidate of Luis Campos.
Hidden under the title of “football adviser”, the Portuguese is, in fact, the sports director of PSG and the new architect of its sports policy. The two men have nurtured a relationship of trust since their time at Lille. In the North, they had achieved a small feat: in 2021, LOSC deprived PSG of the title of champion of France with a team built by Campos and transcended by Galtier.
The French school of pragmatism
The former rough defender (passed by Marseille, Lille or Toulouse) has become a respected and demanded coach. A little revenge for the man who, in his early days, had a reputation for being low on the front, which the so-called “Vélodrome tunnel” “affair” had not diminished: on April 7, 2000, the man who was then the assistant coach of Olympique de Marseille hit the Monegasque player Marcelo Gallardo during a scuffle, then received a six-month suspension. On his own, he returned to this episode to The world in order to reaffirm his innocence – “I was found guilty. Without proof, just based on testimony” – and confide how much he had to work on himself to erase this image.
Today, man offers less scope for criticism. He built his career at his own pace and with relative humility. In Saint-Etienne, he was satisfied to be in the shadow of Alain Perrin before cornering the Greens for eight years (2009-2017). He had then built the team, giving his opinion on everything and winning a League Cup in 2013, the first title since 1981 for the club.
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