Paris: Paris Saint-Germain took the next step in their quest for European domination by announcing Carlo Ancelotti as their new coach on Friday.
Having secured Qatari backing, and spent 82 million Euros on players, PSG's next objective was to recruit a coach of world renown, who will help attract star players to the club.
Ancelotti, the former Chelsea, AC Milan and Juventus manager, replaced Antoine Kombouare, who left his job earlier on Friday even though PSG lead the French standings at the halfway stage of the season.
"I think I can do a great job to help PSG become a big club in Europe," Ancelotti said. "We have a lot of ambition. We want to win the title and take part in the Champions League next season. We want to make this club bigger than it is today, do the best we can in France and in Europe. We want to stay at the top in France and improve certain things."
PSG have not played in the Champions League since 2004, but were semi-finalists in the competition in 1995 and won the now-defunct European Cup Winners' Cup the following year.
Ancelotti's appointment on a 2½ year contract had been expected since the club's sporting director Leonardo met with the 52-year-old Italian in Paris last month.
"I'm here to bring my knowledge, I will observe the behavior of the players and I will add some touches if necessary," Ancelotti said. "I want good organization, a strong attack, a good defence. We will look to play attacking football."
Ancelotti led Milan to the Champions League title in 2003 and 2007, and guided Chelsea to the Premier League and FA Cup double two seasons ago.
"I did an honorable job with Milan and Chelsea, and I hope to do the same here," Ancelotti said. "At one stage I never envisaged leaving Italy. When I left Italy, I wondered how things would go. I found out about a new country, the way people are. I liked it and I hope to do the same here."
Ancelotti's experience and success comes at a price and protracted negotiations lasted two days. Ancelotti and Leonardo spent large parts of Wednesday and Thursday together as they dodged reporters waiting outside the Parc des Princes stadium and photographers camped outside a Parisian hotel.
Leonardo would not reveal Ancelotti's salary, but it is likely to be much higher than any other coach has ever been paid in the French league, with local media reports estimating his annual pay to be 6 million Euros.
"Ancelotti's salary is within the market," Leonardo said. "It's a price that other big European clubs would be willing to pay. There's a European market, but realizing this is new in France. I know its difficult for some to understand. But what drives this club is passion, not money."
Ancelotti could be followed to the club by several big-name players in January, including former England captain David Beckham, who is weighing up a move from Los Angeles Galaxy.
The new coach would not be drawn on which players he might target with the hefty financial backing of owners Qatar Sports Investment, who took over in June. He did admit, however, that he admired AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato, who is struggling to get into Milan's team.
"I don't know if it's a good idea to name names right now as these are players who have a certain status in their clubs," he said. "I didn't come here to completely shake up the team. They're in first place."
Former France midfielder Claude Makelele will take on a coaching role under Ancelotti, who was sacked by Chelsea in May after failing to win a trophy in his second season.
"The English experience helped me a lot, it was a fantastic experience, but there is a great challenge here with PSG," Ancelotti said. "The club has everything to succeed and enormous ambition."
QSI has been extensively using the Italian connection to bring PSG back to the top.
Ancelotti, Leonardo and general director Jean-Claude Blanc all have a proven track record in Italy.
Leonardo played for AC Milan before becoming a scout, helping the Italian club sign Kaka and Pato when Ancelotti was coaching the Rossoneri. Leonardo was named technical director in 2008 and took over the coaching duties when Ancelotti departed for Chelsea the following year.
Blanc was the chief executive officer at Juventus from 2006 and became chairman of the board in 2009. The Frenchman oversaw the financing for the construction of the new Juventus Stadium and took care of revenue development.
"Working together is easier when you have a good relationship," Ancelotti said. "It's very stimulating to work alongside him [Leonardo] and Jean-Claude Blanc. We want to do something very big on an international scale."
A club stalwart largely unknown outside of France, Kombouare was a highly respected former PSG player, a fans' favorite, someone who knew the club inside out and had a bond with it that ran deep. Just as important, he had helped to lift PSG out of the doldrums and within sight of a first French title since 1994.
Loyalty and ties to PSG's past, however, were not enough for a new-look club with lofty ambitions.
"Antoine Kombouare expressed his gratitude to PSG for the faith they showed in him over the years," PSG said in a statement. "He remains the club's biggest fan and has no doubt they will continue to have success in the years to come."
As well as QSI's need for a renowned manager to help broaden their global appeal, PSG's elimination from the Europa League and League Cup did not sit well with the owners, who took over the club in July, and that may ultimately have cost Kombouare his job.
PSG's sporting director would not comment further on why Kombouare was replaced.
"It's not the day to be talking about (it) ... we'll talk about it calmly later," Leonardo replied bluntly. "It's important to thank Antoine Kombouare, we tried to do things in the most exemplary and amicable fashion."
Kombouare had helped bring stability to an oft-troubled club once riddled with problems of football violence and a long-standing racist element among some fans that nearly brought the club to its knees. Two PSG fans died in separate incidents of hooliganism outside the Parc des Princes stadium in November 2006 and early last year.
A stalwart defender for PSG during the club's heyday from 1990-95, Kombouare was part of the PSG team which reached the Champions League semi-finals in 1995.
A tough-tackling defender with a fiery temperament, PSG's fans adored him and nicknamed him 'Golden Helmet' because of his ability to score headed goals from corners.
In the return leg of the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Real Madrid in 1993, Kombouare charged up the field deep into injury time to score the goal that knocked Real Madrid out and put PSG into the semi-finals.
However, given the huge spending spree at the start of this season - including a French record 42 million Euros on the 22-year-old Argentina midfielder Javier Pastore - fans expected to watch entertaining football every week.
This has not been the case, with Kombouare's team often eking out wins rather than tearing teams apart. A poor run of form in November sealed Kombouare's fate as PSG lost 1-0 at home to Nancy, then 3-0 away to bitter rivals Marseille and 2-0 at Salzburg in the Europa League.
By the time PSG turned things around, Ancelotti was in the frame and it was too late for Kombouare.
Comments
0 comment