December 30 – He won the league in his first two seasons with the club and led them to the Champions League final last summer.
But that wasn’t enough to keep Paris St. Germain manager Thomas Tuchel in his job after the German was sacked with the perennial French champions lying third in Ligue1.
“I would like to thank Thomas Tuchel and his staff for everything they brought to the club,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said.
“Thomas has put a lot of energy and passion into his work and of course we’ll remember the good times we shared together. I wish him the best for his future.”
PSG are one point behind Olympique Lyonnais and Lille and are through to the last 16 of the Champions League, where they face Barcelona. Yet incredibly Tuchel was dismissed despite having had a 75.6% win rate – the highest success percentage for a coach in the league’s entire history.
The only thing that matters to Qatari-owned PSG, who have spent over €1 billion on transfers including on some of the biggest names in world football, is winning the Champions League which Tuchel failed to do when Bayern Munich beat his side in last season’s final, the closest they came after under-achieving on the European stage season after season.
The man PSG have apparently lined up to replace him is Mauricio Pochettino who transformed Tottenham Hotspur and has been waiting for the right club since being dismissed by Spurs in November, 2019 – ironically also a few months after steering the club to their first ever Champions League final.
Pochettino played for PSG from 2001 to 2003 and four years ago was quoted as saying: “Coach one day at PSG, it is a dream of mine.”
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