Poor summer transfers cost Tuchel his PSG job, claims assistant

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:47 CDT
• 3 min read

Thomas Tuchel’s former assistant manager Zsolt Löw believes poor dealings in the transfer market from PSG sporting director Leonardo ultimately cost them their job. 

The Ligue 1 side made the decision to sack Tuchel (and Löw) in late December, just four months after guiding PSG to the Champions League final. 

However, the club’s league form was far from exemplary, with four defeats and two draws in their opening 17 games leaving Tuchel’s side sitting third in the French top flight. 

As such, the Parisian club decided to ditch Tuchel in favour of former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino. 

Yet Löw believes the club’s dip in form this season and Tuchel’s deteriorating relationship with the club’s hierarchy was down to some terrible business in the transfer window. 

Despite signing Mauro Icardi from Inter for £45 million along with Barcelona’s Rafinha and Everton striker Moise Kean, PSG still allowed key players like Edinson Cavani, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Thomas Meunier and Thiago Silva depart without much effort to replace them. 

And that, according to Löw, is the real reason Tuchel’s side hit a dip in form and why his relationship with Leonardo led to the club seeking a new manager in January. 

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“We were surprised when sporting director Leonardo told us on December 23, after the deserved 4-0 win against Strasbourg, that he would no longer count on Thomas [Tuchel] in the future,” Löw told Hungarian newspaper Nemzeti Sport. 

“And that after we had achieved something historic with PSG despite great difficulties (reaching the Champions League final), led the team to the round of 16 of the Champions League and are fully in the championship. The decision is a little incomprehensible.”

“The departures (Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani, Thomas Meunier) could not be replaced. This had created tension between certain people in the club’s leadership and the coaching team. 

“We had different ideas in many areas, and over time the points of view got further and further apart. As a result, Leonardo wanted to shape the future with a different coaching team.”

The French club’s decision in December now means Tuchel can move to a new club in Europe this month, with a potential posting at Manchester United or back in the Bundesliga being the most obvious destinations for the German coach.