Luis Enrique, who has previously coached at Barcelona and Spain, will take over as head coach of Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year contract, according to an announcement made by the French champions on Wednesday.
Christophe Galtier’s departure from the club was announced earlier in the day, and the 53-year-old now takes over as head coach in his stead. Prior to this, Galtier had been a free agent since being fired from his position as Spain’s head coach in December of last year.
PSG held the news conference to introduce Luis Enrique as their new head coach at their brand new training facility in Poissy, which is located to the north-west of Paris. The press conference took place alongside Nasser al-Khelaifi, the president of the Qatar-backed club.
Luis Enrique expressed his excitement about his upcoming move to Paris in a statement released by the club. “I’m delighted to be joining Paris in order to enjoy a new experience,” he added.
“It’s such an exciting experience to meet new people, to live in this city, to learn a new language, and, most importantly, to manage PSG,” said the manager.
The new coach, whose full name is Luis Enrique Martinez Garcia, is the seventh man to oversee the club since the revolutionary Qatari purchase in 2011. Like the coaches who came before him, the new coach will be entrusted with bringing the team victory in the Champions League, which has so far been elusive.
PSG has never been victorious in Europe’s most prestigious club tournament; however, in 2020, they came very near by losing in the championship game against Bayern Munich.
They have been eliminated in the round of 16 in five of the previous seven seasons, with their most recent elimination coming at the hands of Bayern in the most recent season. That loss ended up being quite expensive for Galtier.
Luis Enrique is a proven winner in the Champions League, having guided Barcelona to victory in the tournament while serving as the club’s head coach in 2015. That year, Barcelona defeated Juventus in the championship game behind an outstanding offense that included Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez.
Now, he will be joining a club that is in the process of starting their most recent reconstruction after Messi left at the conclusion of his two-year spell.
Mbappe future in doubt
After informing the club that he would not be renewing a contract that is set to expire in the following year, the superstar striker Kylian Mbappe’s future is now in question.
The team is getting ready to begin preseason training in the coming days, and they have a trip planned to Japan for the latter part of this month. A number of high-profile new acquisitions are anticipated to be announced around this time.
In 2017, Luis Enrique left Barcelona after a stint there that had lasted three years. The following year, he was hired as the coach of Spain.
However, he left the company in June 2019, and two months later he stated that his daughter, who was nine years old and had bone cancer, had passed away.
In November of that year, he returned to the post of Spain manager, retaking the reins from Robert Moreno. He led La Roja to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 and the final of the 2021 UEFA Nations League before being fired after Spain was eliminated from the World Cup in the round of 16 by Morocco in a penalty shoot-out.
Although Galtier had only been in charge for one season and his contract had another year left on it, his resignation had been anticipated ever since the conclusion of the most recent Ligue 1 season which took place a month ago. Galtier had only been in command for a season.
According to a statement released by the club, “Paris Saint-Germain and Christophe Galtier have decided to terminate his contract as coach of the first team,”
“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.”
A French record 11 titles were won by PSG under Galtier’s direction, although those accomplishments were overshadowed by the team’s early elimination from the Champions League and a defeat to Marseille in the last 16 of the French Cup.
The last weeks of Galtier’s administration were also overshadowed by allegations that he made racist comments about players during his former employment at Nice. These allegations surfaced during the final weeks of Galtier’s reign.
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).