Amid all the rumours that Paris Saint-Germain were looking at Antonio Conte to replace Mauricio Pochettino, a report emerged of the demands the Tottenham manager was making to take the job.
That included a close to €30m wage package, a new director of football, his own staff, as well as the idea of a new role for someone to manage the social media because he was bored of so-called Instagram footballers.
This became a topic of conversation on the RMC Sport show Rothen S’enflamme, led by former footballer Jérôme Rothen, who was asked whether if agreeing to all these requests from the Tottenham manager was a good idea for Paris Saint-Germain.
His answer? “Of course not. When you hear these demands, stay where you are. Certainly don’t come to a club like PSG, who need to improve their image, one far more healthy. You need people who are passionate about football, and I’m not saying Conte isn’t, but he seems more passionate about his chequebook than managing Tottenham, PSG or another team. That’s already problematic.”
⚡ @RothenJerome : Quand tu entends les exigences de Conte… Mais reste où tu es ! Ne viens surtout pas au PSG." #RMClive pic.twitter.com/JkegJn6Fn0
— Rothen s'enflamme (@Rothensenflamme) April 26, 2022
Rothen then goes on to say that he wouldn’t be the first manager to be lured by the prospect of getting a big paycheque from the Ligue 1 side, with many of Mauricio Pochettino’s predecessors, as well as the Argentine himself, falling into that trap.
The ideal scenario would be for the manager ‘to be chosen by a director of football and not the other way around’, followed by a rant then directed at Leonardo, who has been much maligned since his return to the job.
However, Rothen does point out that if the right man comes in to replace the Brazilian chief with the right ideas, with the prime focus being football first, and if his manager of choice is Conte, who would then leave Tottenham and join Paris Saint-Germain for the ‘right reasons’, then things could be different.
If that was the case: “Yes, every day, because Conte brings that grinta, and I think that he identifies really quickly with the club he manages, but not with those financial conditions. That’s not possible.”
