On Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain announced that head coach Christophe Galtier will not be returning for a second season.
This news paves the way for the club to hire Luis Enrique, who most recently coached Barcelona and Spain.
Although there was still one year left on Galtier’s contract, his exit from the Qatar-owned club had been speculated about ever since the conclusion of the last Ligue 1 campaign at the beginning of June.
“Paris Saint-Germain and Christophe Galtier have decided to terminate his contract as coach of the first team,” the club declared in a statement that was issued after sources close to the discussions leaked the news to AFP. The statement was published after the news had been reported.
“On behalf of everyone at Paris Saint-Germain, we would like to extend our gratitude to Christophe Galtier and his assistants, Thierry Oleksiak and Joao Sacramento, for their professionalism and dedication throughout the course of the season. We wish them the best of luck in their future careers.”
Luis Enrique will be introduced to the media as the new head coach of Paris Saint-Germain during a news conference that will take place later on Wednesday at the club’s training facility. Galtier will be replaced by Enrique.
The 56-year-old former coach of Saint-Etienne, Lille, and Nice was hired a year ago and guided PSG to a French record 11th championship. He was promoted to his current position last year.
Despite this, they ended only one point ahead of Lens, who came in second place, despite the fact that they lost seven games after the turn of the year.
Their triumph in the league was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that they were eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the competition.
PSG was eliminated from the French Cup by Marseille at the same round, and Galtier is the fifth coach to quit the club since the Qatari ownership in 2011. PSG also lost at the same stage of the French Cup.
The closing weeks of Galtier’s tenure were overshadowed by allegations that he made racist comments about players during his former position at Nice. These allegations surfaced during Galtier’s time as head coach at Nice.
According to the prosecutors in Nice, even though he has categorically rejected the allegations, he will be tried in December on charges of “moral harassment and discrimination on the grounds of actual or supposed membership or non-membership of a particular ethnic group, nation, alleged race or religion.” These allegations are based on the fact that he is either a member of or not a member of a particular ethnic group, nation, or alleged race or religion.
These offenses carry a maximum sentence of three years in jail in addition to a fine of 45,000 euros ($49,000).