Benfica – PSG – “Unknown”, “under the radar”, “intelligent choice”: What does Europe think of Galtier?

Saint Etienne, Lille, Paris. This is, in 13 years, the upward trajectory of Christophe Galtier, from the bench of a club which was struggling to stay in Ligue 1 to that of one of the ten biggest teams in Europe. His Franco-French career has somewhat made him pass under the radars of our European neighbors. Apart from serious touches at Aston Villa, Everton and Naples, the former coach of the Greens has never really aroused the curiosity of the major European championships.

Italians, English, Germans and Spaniards have thus welcomed with perplexity the signing of Galtier at PSG this summer. “To be honest, Christophe Galtier is completely unknown to Spanish fanstestifies Adrian Garcia, journalist at Eurosport in Spain. We all expected the signing of a great manager like Zidane, Conte, Mourinho, Klopp or the return of Blanc. But never to that of Galtier.” “He was a completely unknown coach for most of the Italian public“, confirms Simone Eterno, our colleague in Milan, despite the short experience of the former OM defender in Monza between 1998 and 1999.

In Germany, the appointment of Galtier recalled another: “Galtier was only known to football insiders in Germany and his appointment came as a surprise to manycontinues Florian Bogner, journalist at Eurosport Germany. It reminded me a bit of when Bayern appointed Niko Kovac in 2018.“With a little more success, at least for the moment. PSG’s excellent start to the season, still undefeated in Ligue 1, with two victories on the clock in C1 and an often convincing game on the lawn, have swelled the reputation of the one who was still champion of France with Lille in 2021.

Has Galtier nevertheless become a subject of conversation among our neighbors? Not in Spain in any case where PSG only interests through the prism of its stars (Neymar, Mbappé, Messi), a status to which the coach cannot yet claim. Same observation in Germany. If Galtier made the front page of newspapers with large audiences, it is primarily because he made himself “massacre” for his outing on the sand yacht. For the rest, he remains “under the radar“who scan today, on the other side of the Rhine, only the performances of the trio of Parisian mega-stars.

The performances of PSG advertised the technician but also the new strategy of the capital club: “It was by no means a sexy appointment after Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure, but perhaps PSG have realized that glamorous appointments don’t guarantee successsummarizes James Hilsum, journalist at Eurosport UK. The recruitment of Galtier suggests that they are becoming more pragmatic. “Paris was smart to install it and avoid perhaps bigger but less appropriate names“, confirms Florian Bogner.

Still, to convince Europe, Galtier will have to do much more. “No one will be impressed with PSG in the UK until they win the Champions Leaguecontinues James Hilsum. If he doesn’t win it, Galtier will not be viewed more favorably than previous PSG managers.“The Parisian technician knows what he has to do for his reputation to cross borders.