Thiago Motta Zlatan Ibrahimovic Bordeaux Paris SG Ligue 1 15032015Gettyimages

Motta slams PSG for not planning ahead for his and Ibrahimovic's departures

Thiago Motta has slammed Paris Saint-Germain for their failure to line up replacements for him and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a timely manner.  

Motta played 166 times for the French giants before retiring at the end of the 2018 season, and says the club were alerted to his plans in plenty of time to secure a replacement.  

But with no alternative brought in last summer and the plight of Adrien Rabiot having left the club short on central midfield options, Motta has hit out at their lack of planning. 

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"It was something you had to think about and plan on beforehand,” he told RMC. “The club knew I was going to retire, it had to be organized, whether it was regarding my departure or any another player, but that comes from the organization and the ability to project ahead in the future of the club.” 

The 36-year-old says the same issue also popped up in Unai Emery’s first season in charge at PSG during the 2016-17 season.  

The Paris outfit finished second to Monaco in Ligue 1 that campaign, eight points back, and Motta believes it was a failure to deal with the departure of Ibrahimovic that ended up proving costly.

"We all agreed with Unai (Emery, who arrived that same summer), as we all agreed with Carlo (Ancelotti) and with Laurent (Blanc),” he said. “In the first year of Unai Emery here, a problem arose in my opinion, and the problem was that we let go of Ibra, who was able to score 50 goals per season, and we did not replace him with a player who could score 50 goals." 

PSG have since recovered, winning the league title in 2018 and looking a lock to make it back-to-back crowns this season under Thomas Tuchel.  

And while the former Dortmund manager seems to have the full backing of the club’s former midfielder, Motta says it would be a dream to one day take over in the PSG hotseat.

"My goal is to coach the biggest clubs in the world,” he said. “Coaching PSG after Tuchel? When the time comes, we will see, but in the meantime he has my full support if he needs anything. 
 
"There are 99 per cent of the coaches today who want to coach PSG because it's a big club, and the remaining 1% is Tuchel, who is already there.  

“Of course I'll be among the managers who want to take the position as soon as Tuchel leaves. I work for that. I played for PSG, I know how the club functions, the dressing room. I know the ambitions of the club, externally and internally. This is something very positive for me and the club. " 

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