Mauricio Pochettino has left after leading the club to the French title by a 15-point margin; PSG were beaten in last 16 of Champions League by Real Madrid; Christophe Galtier guided Lille to the Ligue 1 title in 2020/21, before joining Nice and leading them to fifth last season
Tuesday 5 July 2022 16:17, UK
Mauricio Pochettino has left Paris Saint-Germain and Nice boss Christophe Galtier has been confirmed as his successor on a two-year deal.
Pochettino, the former Tottenham and Southampton manager, has departed the club despite leading PSG to the French title, winning by 15 points - the largest margin of a title-winning team in the top five leagues.
But ultimately, it was PSG's latest capitulation in the Champions League, the competition the Qatari owners crave so much, which has cost him his job.
PSG were 2-0 up on aggregate with only 45 minutes left to play in their last-16 tie against Real Madrid but were undone by a 17-minute second-half hat-trick from Karim Benzema.
Pochettino was able to guide PSG to the semi-finals the season before, becoming only the second manager in the club's history to do so under the current ownership, but they were eliminated by Manchester City.
Manchester United considered Pochettino for the manager's position vacated by interim Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season, but instead opted to hire Erik ten Hag from Ajax.
Galtier, 55, guided Lille to the Ligue 1 title in 2020-21, before joining Nice, who went on to seal a fifth-place finish under him in the French top flight last season.
A ground-breaking data analysis in-depth review of the leading candidates to succeed Pochettino has raised concerns about the suitability of Galtier for PSG.
Carteret Analytics combine raw manager data with their own bespoke algorithms to come up with the Carteret Manager Rating - a tool used by football club decision-makers to assess the ability, quality and potential of prospective managerial appointments.
The complex analysis draws on managers' performances over the past six seasons and is then weighted against expectations, strength of opposition sides and various other factors such as styles and formations.
It is usually confidential information to assist football club leaders but they shared their PSG analysis as part of a special study for Sky Sports.
Galtier has a far lower rating than Pochettino or other replacements who had been linked with the role in Zinedine Zidane and Jose Mourinho and his exceptionally defensive style contrasts with the usual approach of PSG.
French football expert Jonathan Johnson speaking to Sky Sports News:
"I definitely think a return to the Premier League makes a lot of sense for Pochettino, especially with his family still based in the country. I think it's where his stock is highest.
"Obviously he has coached in Spain before and is thought of highly there as well. There was some interest from Athletic Bilbao I believe recently, but I think the Premier League is a logical landing spot.
"It's just a question of which position might open up now that he's missed that shot at Old Trafford."
Carlo Ancelotti - 1x Copa del Rey (2014), 2x Champions League (2014, 2022), 1x Super Cup (2014), FIFA Club World Cup (2014), 1x Bundesliga (2017), 1x La Liga (2022).
Unai Emery - 1x Europa League finalist (2019), 1x Europa League (2021), 1x Champions League semi-finalist (2022).
Thomas Tuchel - 1x Champions League (2021), 1x Super Cup (2021), 1x UEFA Men's Coach of the Year (2021), 1x The Best FIFA Football Coach (2021), 1x FIFA Club World Cup (2021).
