Real Madrid and PSG are on good terms nowadays and no longer trying to poach stars from each other, and Florentino Perez was even seen enjoying the company of PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi. But for years, Al Khelaifi and Perez had a lot of bad blood between each other during Perez's dogged pursuit of Kylian Mbappe's signature while he was under contract at PSG.
Another figure in the tale is Brazilian icon Leonardo, who was the sporting director of PSG. Leonardo and Al Khelaifi never made their feelings about Real Madrid unknown, and after their collapse to Karim Benzema and Real Madrid in the 2022 Champions League Round of 16, there were a lot of ugly words and barbs thrown on both sides.
Al Khelaifi is now triumphant with back to back Champions League titles, but not with Leonardo by his side. Leonardo was deposed in 2022 as part of the contract that kept Mbappe in Paris ahead of Madrid interest, as he did not have a high opinion of Leonardo - and nor did PSG fans after several years of poor summer signings and failed Champions League runs with poor squads built around Mbappe and Neymar, with even Thomas Tuchel leaving and winning the Champions League with Chelsea after growing frustrated with Leonardo.
Kylian Mbappe once got him the sack in Paris
Well, the man who once fought with Real Madrid and got the sack for Luis Campos in Paris at the behest of Kylian Mbappe has suddenly resurfaced out of nowhere after years of being irrelevant. Fabrizio Romano reports that after their latest disgrace of missing out on the World Cup, the Italian national team is calling upon Leonardo.
The former PSG sporting director will be joining forces with former AC Milan sporting director and legendary defender Paolo Maldini. Leonardo will be Italy's new national team advisor to Maldini, who is the technical director.
Hiring Maldini makes a ton of sense. Not only has he achieved great things with Milan and Italy as a player, but he also won the Scudetto and got the Rossoneri to rise back up in 2022 as their sporting director before unfairly being forced out by the new American venture capitalists who turned one of the world's biggest clubs back into an utter joke.
Italy hiring Maldini is great, but the reactions to Leonardo will be mixed. He will have to prove to the world that he is a lot wiser than many thought, though he has one thing working in his favor. After Mbappe sacrificed him, he warned that PSG would be better off without Mbappe and that they could not win with him. It turns out, he was right. And Mbappe still has to prove he can win the Champions League, too.
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