Leonardo quits as PSG sporting director
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 11, 2013
Paris Saint-Germain's turbulent close-season took another twist yesterday with the club announcing that sporting director Leonardo had resigned.
"The club management regrets this decision, but respects it," a club statement said, adding that the resignation would take effect from September 2, when the summer transfer window closes.
"The club would like to take the opportunity to thank him for the remarkable work he put in to build in Paris a team that is now in the forefront of European football and wishes him every future success in his brilliant career."
Leonardo last week was banned for the entire new season for pushing a referee after PSG's 1-1 draw against Valenciennes on May 5. The Brazilian was originally banned for nine months, but after he appealed against the decision, French football authorities increased the sanction to 13 months.
It means more instability and turmoil in a difficult offseason for the big-spending French champion which has already seen coach Carlo Ancelotti leave for Real Madrid.
The Leonardo-Ancelotti partnership was instrumental in attracting some of the biggest names in football to the Parc des Princes and the departure of the pair will do little to reassure the likes of Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Brazil's Thiago Silva, both captured from AC Milan a year ago, that their long-term future lies in the French capital.
With both now gone and Frenchman Laurent Blanc the new coach almost by default as PSG allegedly failed to secure the services of a host of preferred top names, the feeling of instability is palpable, not helped by the lack of a sporting director.
Former AC and Inter Milan coach Leonardo was named as sporting director at the Paris club in July 2011 after it was taken over by wealthy investors from the Gulf state of Qatar.
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