Is it too soon to start a poll when Laurent Blanc will be fired as Paris Saint-Germain coach?
Blanc has just walked into a no-win situation in Paris as PSG club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told him that he must win the French league again next season:
In his introductory press conference Al-Khelaifi made no effort to remove any pressure from Blanc’s shoulders, bluntly saying:
“The fourth league title, it’s for next season.”
Blanc understands the expectations saying
“When a club has been champion with 83 points and reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League, the goal for the following season is to do better.”
One downside to an owner having unlimited funds, is that sometimes you end up with a squad more suited to fantasy football than the real thing, and this in something that Carlo Ancelotti battled with last year, PSG often struggled to play as a unit despite winning the league. PSG failed to get beyond the quarterfinal stage of any domestic cup competition, much to the disappointment of the club’s owners.
“We’ll have to be daring in our game,” Blanc said, “but we’ll have to keep a balance between playing attractive football and winning matches, because if we’re bold on the pitch but lose matches, I know who will pay the bill.”
Blanc was at least PSG’s fifth choice after Arsene Wenger, Fabio Capello, Guus Hiddink and Andre Villas-Boas, but not being the clubs first choice did not bother Blanc who said:
“It doesn’t matter that I was not the first name on the list. Very often in my career as a player, I was not the first name on the list. But the most important in the end is to be picked.”
Because of the long-drawn out search for a replacement for Ancelotti, PSG have not signed any new players this summer. By contrast, French league rival Monaco spent over €120 million last month signing Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Ricardo Carvalho.
PSG have spent about €250 million over in the past two seasons on the likes of Thiago Silva, Lucas Moura and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and I expect them to spend heavily this summer again as they strengthen the squad to compete with the best in Europe in the Champions League.
