Football – Mercato – PSG
Passed by the sports management of PSG at the dawn of the QSI project then a second time between 2019 and 2022, Leonardo completed the most operations of the capital club on the transfer window during his reign. And his strategic choices, even if he did not win the Champions League, still managed to move the project forward.
This summer, the Qatar made a very strong decision by indicating the exit door to Leonardo which was replaced by Luis Campos to the sports director of PSG. The end of the emblematic reign for the Brazilian leader, who finally came out of silence about his dismissal on Friday in the columns of L’EQUIPE: ” My departure which was never made official? We talked about it with the club. Maybe that’s my way of being, but I always find it a little pathetic to say “thank you very much, goodbye…” It was not important to make a press release “, first explained Leonardowho deciphered his very special bond with the PSG : “ My relationship with PSG has always been linked to too strong an emotion. I arrived there as a player at a time (in 1996) when the club was in turmoil, the team had won the Coupe des Coupes (C2), I experienced a very intense. If I came back here in 2011, it’s because I had worn these colors. There was emotion when arriving, when leaving and, even there, when cutting, now “, assured the Brazilian sports director, who has a lot of works to advance the QSI project in recent years.
Mercato – PSG: Leonardo’s record on his transfers to Paris https://t.co/scfRbiCjyd pic.twitter.com/pTqbs7FX7b
— Le10Sport_PSG (@le10sport_psg) June 17, 2022
Leonardo, the architect of PSG
Indeed, during his first stint as sports director of the PSG, Leonardo had played its important network in Serie A to bring the best elements to the Parc des Princes: Javier Pastor of Palermo, Marco Veratti of Pescara, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva from A.C. Milan, Edison Cavani of Naples… Subsequently, for his second visit between 2019 and 2022, Leonardo aimed more broadly at the European market, completing major recruitments such as that of Clelor Navas (real Madrid) but especially those of Sergio Ramos and Lionel MessI, recruited free by the PSG last summer. Results that were never enough to win the Champions League, and the break with Leonardo was made in recent months before being recorded at the end of May, at the end of the season. And despite the rather troubled circumstances of his departure, the former sporting director of PSG does not blame the Qatari decision-makers: ” If I was given an explanation? Some things that are said internally should stay internal. That’s what I experienced with the club. When we want to part with you, there’s no good way to say it’s over (…) I’m leaving with zero bitterness! Honestly, zero! Then I have my vision. But this is not the day to pour out. It’s to thank Qatar and Paris for giving me this opportunity. And I don’t do it out of demagoguery “, specified Leonardo in this interview. The QSI project will therefore continue with Luis Camposwho will have to build a building PSG in his image, whose foundations will keep the signature of Leonardo.