Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 10:45 AM• Rian Rosendaal

Mauricio Pochettino is not afraid that his star players Kylian Mbappé and Neymar will just leave Paris Saint-Germain. The coach of the superpower from Paris, responsible for the elimination of Barcelona in the eighth final of the Champions League, is confident that the PSG leadership can offer the top strikers financially. Both Mbappé and Neymar are fixed in the French capital until mid-2022.

“I have every confidence in it,” said the hopeful Pochettino in an interview with CBS Sports. “PSG has become one of the biggest clubs in the world. We can offer Neymar and Mbappé what few clubs in the world can offer.” The trainer, appointed in January, was very impressed in a short time by the figureheads of PSG, which can again be counted among the favorites for the overall victory in the billion dollar ball.

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“Neymar is already on the same level as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo”, Pochettino pays the Brazilian playmaker a big compliment. “You simply cannot ignore him. Neymar is now 29, but he really is at that level. He is a great person. He loves football and reminds me as a player of Diego Maradona and Ronaldinho. Neymar always wants to play, it is like a child who always has the ball at their feet. A truly unique talent “, said the PSG coach, who also praises Mbappé’s stormy development.

Pochettino sees similarities between Mbappé and the often scoring Erling Braut Haaland. “They are working to get close to or on the level of Messi and Ronaldo. What they are doing is really unbelievable. They are still so young, they have yet to show their qualities and constantly try to be one. day or one season. The point is that they show season after season that they are the best players, “says the successor of Thomas Tuchel as advice.

Pochettino’s words are at odds with the coverage of L’Équipe from Tuesday. The French newspaper reported that Mbappé’s salary requirements are too great for PSG. The Athletic added that the attacker is demanding a whopping 700,000 euros a week, more than 36 million euros a year. That is more than double than the 39-time French international currently earns (17.5 million euros per year). If no agreement is reached on a new contract, PSG hopes to keep no less than 200 million euros from the sale of Mbappé. Earlier it was announced that Neymar is willing to extend his engagement in the Parc des Princes.