Zapping Our Mondial Winning pass
The sports daily ensures it itself in parallel with the interview granted by Leonardo. The speech is probably not trivial while the future of Kylian Mbappé is at the center of the discussions. The Brazilian sports director, in a form of PSG operating report, simply pulled out all the stops to seduce the Parisian prodigy and convince him that the best challenge for him is Paris…
The best sports project is in Paris
Leonardo is certain, Kylian Mbappé will not find a better sporting challenge than at PSG, with an increasingly structured club which is also preparing for the future. Pointing to the success of the training, the women, and the infrastructures which promise to be of a very high level with the next training center, Leonardo also highlights the strength of the Parisian workforce. “In our squad, OK, we have stars like Messi, Neymar, Ramos, Mbappé, Di Maria, Navas, but we also have Mendes who is 19, Hakimi 22, Donnarumma 22. Marquinhos is living his 9th season, Verratti his 10th , Kimpembe was “born” here. We are building something that will last. »
The club is not as unstable as we want to say
Among the flaws that must necessarily slow Kylian Mbappé in his thinking, there is obviously this reputation for chronic instability around the club’s sports project, which fails to install a coach over time. Leonardo takes the total opposite, believing for his part that PSG is on the contrary a rather solid club in the field. “C1 winning clubs have had more than ten coaches over the past ten years. PSG have used five (Ancelotti, Blanc, Emery, Tuchel, Pochettino). The only ones who have had fewer coaches than us are Atlético, Liverpool and Manchester City. Five coaches in ten years, it’s a two-year cycle, nothing extraordinary. »
Lack of discipline is a decoy
Another concern that regularly plagues PSG and does not necessarily make the task easier when renewing Kylian Mbappé’s contract, his reputation as a club where anything goes. Again, Leonardo preaches for his parish. By defending Neymar who “made mistakes” but also the victim of bad rumors – “There are social networks but it transmits a feeling that does not reflect reality” – but also by tackling Zlatan Ibrahimovic for his criticism of indiscipline of the club, and by quickly settling the Icardi file. “There was a problem that each of us can know. He was in no condition to play. He had three days off and on the fourth he was in training. We managed this crisis and everyone in his family followed the instructions, ”assures a Leonardo who finally notes that the delays in training, a subject which considerably annoyed Kylian Mbappé, are ancient history.
Money is not the issue
Kylian Mbappe and LeonardoCredit Photo – Icon Sport
For too long, PSG have been singled out for a capital mistake in the Mbappé case, that of putting money before everything else. So Leonardo does the work in this sense, obviously denying the pharaonic offer submitted to the Parisian striker, but also clearly placing the money behind the rest of the considerations. “There is an important element: I think the last thing we will put on this contract will be the amount. We want to put him in the best conditions so that he becomes the best player possible. Talked about money? Hardly ever. Because that’s not what it’s about. (…) I think that to put the amount, it will take two minutes at the end”. Perhaps one of the most important reversals in the communication around this Mbappé file.
The coach he adores could stay
Finally, Leonardo gives some very important pledges to Kylian Mbappé concerning the coach. His relationship with Mauricio Pochettino is excellent. So Leonardo clearly leaves the door open to the continuity of the adventure with the Argentine coach. “Today, he still has a year of contract (June 2023). Honestly, we never thought about changing coaches. Really. We never contacted Zidane or anyone. Before coming here, Pochettino was in the top 5 coaches and he still is. We see the progress, even if a lot of things have happened”. Here again, the outstretched hand is clear to assure Kylian Mbappé that everything will be done to place him at the center of the Parisian project. Enough to convince the Parisian star to seriously consider his future in the capital?
to summarize
Leonardo gave a long interview to the Team to discuss the news of PSG. But above all it looks like a seduction business for Kylian Mbappé. The Parisian striker that the capital club still hopes to extend.
