Lewis McParlane is joined by colleagues Jake Smales and Thomas Wiseman to shake-off the international break hangover and preview the upcoming weekend of Ligue 1 action: from Neymar’s likely return to Monaco vs Marseille.
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Olympique et Lyonnais and L’Équipe report that Lyon have decided to appoint ex-Marseille manager Rudi Garcia as their new boss on a 2-year contract running until 2021.
RMC reported last night that the former AS Roma and Lille coach had become first choice over the weekend after producing an exceptionally impressive pitch to the Lyon board about why he should be chosen for the position.
Talks with Laurent Blanc have in parallel stalled over his demands to make wholesale changes to the OL backroom staff, whilst Garcia has agreed to bring just one assistant with him should he take up the position.
That assistant is due to be Claude Fichaux, who accompanied Garcia at Lille, AS Roma and Marseille. However, his other trusted coaching ally that almost always has accompanied him throughout his managerial career, Frédéric Bompard, will not be joining. Garcia is set to place his trust in the existing coaching staff.
Garcia and his agents are currently hashing out the final details relating to an eventual agreement and are already in Lyon.
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Speaking to RMC Sport, ex-youth coach at the prestigious INF Clairefontaine academy Francisco Filho, provided anecdotes relating to the shared admiration that Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti have shown for one of the player’s that he was responsible for developing: Blaise Matuidi.
“We had just finished a tournament in Las Palmas. We won. Pep Guardiola was there, on holiday. Alongside his brother, who was organising the tournament, we dined together. He saw our match and he said to me: ‘When I will be manager (he was still playing in Qatar at the time), I want a player like your #6.’ Who was it? Blaise Matuidi.”
Filho added: “Blaise, he’s a bit contrary to Guardiola’s (playing) style. Guardiola is more about support, Blaise, he, is about movement. Maybe he is about what Guardiola would’ve liked to be. He would have liked to have Blaise Matuidi’s qualities to go further, push on, score more.”
“One day, I went to say the U19 Euros which were happening at the Camp des Loges (PSG’s training ground). And then I see Mr Carlo Ancelotti and his son. We introduce ourselves to each other and Ancelotti says: ‘Ah, but it is you, Blaise’s ex-manager!’ Could you make me another one like him? Because he is always the first name on my team sheets.”
Speaking on Canal Football Club, Algerian international and OGC Nice full-back Youcef Atal discussed speculation linking him with a move to PSG.
“In terms of last year, I think it was too early (to join a big club). There are clubs who wanted to see me last year as I had a good season. Now, I have to concentrate to have another great season. I think that I could play in a big club. That is my aim, I am working towards that. There is not a single player who does not want to play for a big club and win titles.”
Speaking in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, Donato Di Campli, the former agent of PSG central midfielder Marco Verratti, revealed that Catalan giants FC Barcelona made a play for his Italian client in 2017.
“The offer was incredible: €100m. But Marco, was the Emir of Qatar’s player, the one he liked the most. It was therefore out of the question to even discuss it. Bartomeu (Barcelona President) called Nasser (Al Khelaifi, PSG President) to discuss it but the latter did not even respond. Not even out of courtesy. Certainly, he (Marco) took it badly.”
The 27-year-old has recently signed a new contract with PSG until 2024, but wanted to consider a departure that summer.
Speaking in an interview with RMC Sport, 32-year-old Juventus central midfielder and French international Blaise Matuidi discussed the manner in which he left PSG in 2017.
“I would not say that I was made to understand that I needed to leave because they told me that I could stay, if I wanted to. I had the choice. If I wanted to stay I would have stayed. I did not feel the desire of the club to keep me, or perhaps the desire of certain people, to keep me. If you really want to keep me, you keep me.”
AS Monaco yesterday confirmed the arrival of 18-year-old Serbian central defender Strahinja Pavlovic from Partizan Belgrade.
The deal is worth €10m plus €3m in bonuses and sees the Serbian youth international return on loan to the club that Monaco have bought him from until the end of the season.
The 18-year-old was notably also targeted by Celtic, but the Principality club got there first.
Lille have confirmed that Turkish attacking midfielder Yusuf Yazici has suffered an ACL injury during last weekend’s action against Monaco – he will almost certainly not play club football again this season.
Yazici has so far struggled to adapt to the physicality of Ligue 1 and had recently lost his place in Christophe Galtier’s starting XI.
We will have to wait and see in the 2020/21 season whether he can make a better impression in France’s top flight.
As reported by RMC Sport, French and Watford right-back Dimitri Foulquier has two firm offers to leave the Premier League side at the beginning of next month.
The first comes from Nantes, who made a permanent transfer offer and proposed a 3.5 year contract to the ex-Rennes man, who famously won the U20 World Cup with Paul Pogba, Florian Thauvin and others.
Les Canaris do however face competition for the ex-Getafe loanee’s signature as an unnamed La Liga club have also made a proposal to sign him on a permanent basis.
As of Christmas morning, Foulquier had yet to make a decision on his future.