Highly anticipated the day after the end of the summer transfer window during which PSG failed to recruit Milan Skriniar, the central defender of Inter yet erected as a priority by the club, Christophe Galtier did not show himself very talkative in a press conference this Friday. Before the trip to Nantes on Saturday evening, the Parisian coach made a quick assessment of sales and arrivals, emphasizing the fact that there had been “a lot of loans” in the direction of departures in the last hours of the transfer window but claiming, however, to have at its disposal “a quality group”.
Relaunched on the question of the central defender, the native of Marseille repeated throughout the conference that what was done was done and that the time was now for adaptation. “To buy, you first had to sell”, he first replied, a way of sending the ball back into the camp of Antero Henrique, the supernegotiator who returned to business in the capital this summer with the mission of sell as many unwanted players as possible.
Tensions with Antero Henrique
We know this, according to information from our colleagues at Parisian and of The Team, relations have been strained in recent weeks between the Portuguese and the Luis Campos-Christophe Galtier duo, the latter accusing the former of having been slow to move forward on files that are on the right track (Paredes at Juve, Keylor Navas at Napoli , Gueye to Everton or Herrera to Bilbao) and therefore to have slowed down the long-awaited possible arrivals. Skriniar in the lead.
However, facing the media, the Parisian coach did not wish to expand on the subject. Even if he has always taken care never to mention Henrique’s name when talking about the people he trusts with whom he works on transfer window issues on a daily basis. “A coach can’t always say ‘I miss so and so, so and so’, you have to adapt, I also have young people available, he explained. The end of the transfer window is a relief for all coaches, we know who we are going to work with, we know which group we have available and above all we have to turn the page. »
Paris stays with a three-man defense… For now
With only three professional central defenders (Marquinhos, Kimpembe and Sergio Ramos) and two backup back-ups (Mukiele and Danilo Pereira), Paris seems too lightly armed for a team that played 3-4-1-2 (then 3-4-3) his favorite system. Despite everything, in the spirit of “Galette”, there is no question of changing immediately. “One of the qualities of a coach is to adapt to situations, obviously it is always better to start with an organization that we have been working on for two months, but it may be necessary at some point adapt. But as we speak, I have no desire to change organization. »