Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 09:45• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 10:27

Christophe Galtier hopes to still have access to Neymar next season. However, the new Paris Saint-Germain coach says the final decision on the Brazilian’s future will be made by the club. Like Neymar, defender Presnel Kimpembe may also be looking to leave Paris.

Galtier replaced Mauricio Pochettino as PSG coach earlier this month. The French superpower managed to keep Kylian Mbappe longer after a long transfer soap and also has the intention to extend Lionel Messi’s contract. According to various media, Neymar, on the other hand, has been told by the club management that he can leave Paris this summer. Neymar has been under fire at PSG for some time, partly because he returned four kilos overweight from his holiday last week.

However, Galtier hopes Neymar will not close the door at PSG this summer. However, a departure is not completely ruled out by the French coach. “There are a lot of things that I have no control over,” Galtier told l’Equipe. The Brazilian has been linked to several clubs in recent weeks, including Chelsea. That also applied to PSG defender Kimpembe.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is looking for defensive reinforcements to cushion the departures of Andreas Christensen (Barcelona) and Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid). The German coach would have the PSG youth product in mind as the new left central defender. “I have read everything written about Kimpembe. We even laughed about it together,” says Galtier. “I like him, he’s a great centre-back, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The former trainer of OGC Nice revealed when he was appointed that he wanted to work with a narrower selection and is now going into this in more detail. “We start this season with 21 field players, and a few youngsters. The big clubs that perform at a very high level are the ones that manage to integrate the best talents into an experienced and high-quality selection.”