Former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Thiago Motta is thriving as a manager. The Italian helped Bologna qualify for the UEFA Champions League, and this summer, he took a high-profile managerial job at Juventus.
It’s early into his tenure with Juventus, but Motta is showing that the job isn’t too big for him. The 42-year-old has the Old Lady in second place in the Serie A behind Napoli.
PSG did have an opportunity to hire Motta when they had a managerial opening after sacking Christophe Galtier in 2023. The Parisians opted to go with Luis Enrique, and RMC Sport pundit Daniel Riolo notes that the capital club missed a significant opportunity to have Motta on their sidelines.
“It always hurts me to see Thiago Motta at Juventus,” Riolo said (h/t Sport.fr). “He’s the coach I’ve been advocating for so much. “Football is about stories, and Thiago Motta’s destiny was to be on the PSG bench. Now he’s at Juve, and of course, he’s going to succeed.
“He was the one we should have taken, but that’s how it goes. Just look at him and his attitude; he was one of us. He was for PSG. He reaches out to you—he should be your coach, and yet you don’t choose him. We have such a disastrous president.”
It will be interesting to see whether PSG considers Motta a manager in the future, but for now, it seems the French giants are keen on keeping Enrique on the sidelines for the long term.
