“I was against the extension of Mbappe” | Relief
Former sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain.Leonardo Araujo first time talking about Kylian Mbappe extension in summer 2022when Real Madrid insisted on signing the young Frenchman, but he chose to remain in his country. Leonardo, who has since been left without a team, spoke about his second stage at the Parc des Princes in an interview with the magazine Figaro where you don’t bite your tongue.
“I was against (Mbappe’s extension), especially at the level that was done. Always. From the very beginning,” Leonardo insists PSG’s economic efforts continue to count on Mbappe. “I even think that he should have been sold at the end of the 2020/2021 season, when PSG had an offer from Real Madrid and He only had one year left on his contract.“he added.
This is why Leonardo, two years later, is wondering how to deal with this situation in the dressing room and how to capitalize on its possible sale. Finally, Mbappe extended his contract until 2025 with the option to leave a year earlier, provided he announces his farewell in the season before the last one. So it was after two sit-ins in Madrid (2017 and 2022) the world champion came to Madrid this summer.
Leonardo remembers how he experienced all this: “How can you cope with this situation?” he asked himself in front of the rest of the team. “If you lose a player, it’s unpleasant, but the club won’t die because of it.. What great institution collapsed after losing a player? “No,” added the former Brazilian footballer, who was already PSG’s sporting director from 2011 to 2013.
“If you lose an important player, it may take a while to recover, but you always recover. I was a player but there is nothing more important than the club“, pointed out Leonardo, talking about the wonders of Paris. – I remember all the moments. When Paris comes to look for me, I was the coach of Inter Milan, I have to build the future, and they call me and say that they will buy the Parisian club, that the revolution will be huge, with the desire to shine on the Champions League field. I arrived in Paris on July 14, the same day that the Championship started on August 6. We recruit from 9 to 10 players in 20 days.“, he recalled.
“It was wonderful. We only left the Champions League against Great Barcelona Messi undefeated this season. The second passage also seems fabulous to me. We are facing the Champions League final, the only one so far. But beyond all this, my history with Paris is sacrosanct. And I don’t say this to open the door to I don’t know what. “This is my heart speaking,” said Leonardo.