Former fashion designer Daniel Hechter served as president of Paris Saint-Germain from 1974 to 1978 and helped designed shirts that have been notorious and considered today historic for the club in the French capital spoke with Le Parisien. The former leader had the opportunity to make his opinion known about the capital club’s current situation.
One of the first topics that Hechter goes into is over what PSG lacked to win the UEFA Champions League against FC Bayern Munich.
“There is no structure, except against small teams, you don’t have possession of the ball. Against Dortmund or the other teams in the European Cup, PSG did not dominate its subject. There is no distribution of play, at no time does the midfield make the difference. Players like Thiago Motta, Rabiot or Matuidi made it possible to have a beautiful midfield. One cannot say that those who replaced them, Gueye and Paredes, are at the level. The midfield is unbalanced,” Hechter said.
“Against Bayern, the Parisians were smothered in the middle. It’s infuriating because PSG have never had such a great attack as they have now and will never have one like that again in the future. It was the year to win! Now it will be much harder. Seeing PSG win the Champions League is one of the few things I wish for in my lifetime. It’s the club of my heart!”
Then the former president discusses what players do Les Parsiens need to recruit, and the answer is pretty apparent, that plenty of supporters will agree with his answer.
“Midfielders! There was one with Alcantara who signed for Liverpool. It’s very difficult to find the right player for your team in the last week of Mercato. The other problem is Bernat’s long injury (ruptured cruciate ligaments). I don’t feel that Bakker is at his level,” Hechter said. “This team lacks cohesion between the backs and the front lines. Football. That’sfeel it, that’s what I learned with Just Fontaine.”
Hechter goes into detail over what he sees wrong with the German manager’s playing style and discusses whether or not he’s the right man to led PSG. The former president also states what capital club sporting Leonardo is doing wrong in his eyes.
“No, and since his debut on the Parisian bench. He has been compared to Klopp but he is not at all at his level. Tuchel makes a lot of mistakes in coaching and for me, he is not better than Laurent Blanc or other French coaches. If you take a foreign coach, he has to be better than those here. Carlo Ancelotti was a very good coach for Paris but the management did everything to make sure he left at the time,” Hechter said. “I have the impression that Leonardo is a bit lonely. Among the leaders of this club, there is no one who really knows football and that’s the problem. It’s hard to make decisions alone.”
Finally, he discusses what needs to be done to extend the contracts of both Neymar Jr. and Kylian Mbappé.
“The only thing that convinces is the result. Mbappé is a great player but if he feels he can’t get any higher with PSG it’s obvious he’s going to leave. Neymar is a bit different because he has made a reputation that he doesn’t deserve. He is a very great player who wet the jersey,” Hechter said. “When he is there, he makes up for the shortcomings of the midfielder. If I were president of a big foreign club, I would take him on immediately. I want him to extend it because I want to see great players on the field, who constantly surprise us, but I feel it’s going to be complicated.”
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You are exactly 💯% right PSG need good midfielders, right back, left back as well as back up Striker