Is it going to be yet another season where PSG crush the middle and bottom of the table sides and struggle against the closer competition? That approach did not hinder them away from winning Ligue 1 titles, but that hasn’t been enough for a while at the French capital.
‘’We don’t want flashy-bling-bling anymore, it’s the end of the glitter,’’ claimed president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. ‘’We have to create a real team, find a real collective spirit. That will be the mission of the new coach.’’
Many succeeded elsewhere but couldn’t bring that edge to Paris, Unai Emery, Thomas Tuchel, and Mauricio Pochettino. All got close but not enough. And now it’s back to hiring a French manager for the first time since Laurent Blanc in 2016. One who has been slept on for the last decade or so: Marseille-born Christophe Galtier.
‘’Thomas had very good results in Germany. Pochettino had a very good spell with Southampton and Tottenham. I like them both.’’ The new manager had said.
“I think PSG prefer to have a foreign manager because this team, the club, and its atmosphere has an international dimension and they need an international manager — just like Monaco, who work in an international environment with foreign managers. Which I understand very well. I don’t have a problem with that. I am not saying that it is a handicap to be French.”
Jose Fonte, who played under him along with the Lille side that won the league, praised his former boss: ‘’Let’s be honest, they’ve tried every (type of) manager that you could possibly imagine. For some reason, it hasn’t worked out. So why not give the man a chance? Why not a French coach that knows the league very well, that has proven that he’s a quality manager as well?’’
Maybe the answer is to, indeed, stop overthinking and glamorising. Take someone who has paid his dues in the country, succeeded enough times to prove it’s not luck and give him the platform to pursue what can only be his career’s natural progression.
Galtier wasn’t called the ‘’miracle man’’ for no reason, this is a manager who takes clubs fighting with relegation to Europe, sides missing silverware for decades and offers them the shiniest ones all while nurturing and growing some of France and Europe’s best players. This is a man who shared the manager of the year award with Carlo Ancelotti, the Italian was in charge of PSG while Galtier headed Saint Etienne.
And that is where it all started taking off for the Marseille-born man.
Before that though, he had spent the first five years after retiring as an assistant manager in different clubs. It was in 2004 that he had joined Alain Perrin’s dugout which will represent the turning point for his career. Short spells at Al Ain and Portsmouth ahead of a positive experience at Sochaux, a league title with Lyon, and then joining Saint Etienne in 2008.
The master would then have to make room for the student as Perrin was sacked in December of 2009, the club offers the position to Galtier who hesitates at first but his former superior encouraged him to accept, and he will be glad he followed his advice.
He ended the first season by barely avoiding relegation, followed by losing important players due to financial issues, like top scorer Bafetimbi Gomis. All of which was not helpful as Galtier headed into his first full season as head coach.
The progress came slowly but surely, ending the 2009/2010 campaign at 17th, though with eight points away from relegation.
With financial obstacles continuing, Galtier is faced with the loss of other players but it doesn’t phase him. He went on to make cost-efficient moves by signing short-term solutions and most importantly relying on youth, with players like Dimitri Payet, Blaise Matuidi, Joshua Guilavogui, and more. More positives started showing as those names start shining and the side approaches mid-table finishes.
Saint Etienne’s Ligue 1 status is then stabilised, despite the departure of the young homegrown players, Galtier repeated the process with the likes of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Kurt Zouma, Faouzi Ghoulam and Stephane Ruffier.
The 2012/13 season came bearing the fruits of the years' work, finishing at 5th, knocking both PSG and Lille out of the domestic cup before lifting it to end a 32-year trophy drought. Earning Galtier the manager of the year award.
Qualifying then for the Europa League, advancing in it more than once and holding up top half of the table finishes for the next couple of years before leaving the club as a legend in 2017. Saint Etienne were shortly relegated after his departure.
His salvaging services will then be required at Lille who he takes as a side postioned at 18th in December of 2017. He is faced with a similar pattern as the club is forbidden from making any transfers during the winter window. Galtier keeps the suspense until the penultimate matchday where he completes three consecutive victories to keep LOSC in the top tier of French football.
From a relegation battle in one season to finishing second the following. In his third season, he finishes at 4th before his fourth and historical season in 2020/21.
He puts together a group of both the young, like Jonathan David and the veterans Burak Yilmaz, still adapting after the loss of Nigerian prodigy Victor Osimhen to Napoli. Galtier brings the best out of this group with 36-year-old Yilmaz scoring 16 goals.
Meanwhile, in Europe, he manages to get through the group stages of the Europa League after defeating AC Milan with a 3-0 score before getting knocked out by Ajax in the following round.
Lille continues to impress as Fonte lead defense becomes the best in the league, all of which helps them win Ligue 1 after being relegation fighters for the first time in a decade, with just a point ahead of PSG.
Galtier having left his blessing there headed for Nice but only for a short while as he managed to stay unbeaten against PSG in the league, reaching a Coupe de France final for the first time in over 30 years all while finishing 5th.
Christophe Galtier is a manager that has proved that pressure and challenges are just ingredients to his fruitful spells, so if we look at history, a few disappointing results, player drama and administrative changes might just be the seed that gives way to a new genesis in PSG’s history.
Le Classique this weekend against Marseille will be just the perfect chance to showcase that the longest-serving manager in Ligue 1’s history can stand up to a challenge and produce the required results. Facing his hometown side won’t be an easy test as they are in a very similar place as PSG, with just three points and Lorient separating them, they have had plenty of positive results with good-looking football, however, have fallen short when it wasn’t expected as well.