PSG changed plans this summer. While Kylian Mbappé was sidelined during the summer, the capital club finally took a turn, desired for several years by the Bondynois, and which puts him at the center of this new era with several French internationals recruited for the occasion (Kolo Muani, Dembélé, L.Hernandez). However, certain things are not ready to change within the Parisian team. In office as president of the club since 2011, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi still manages his business with an iron fist despite certain controversies and legal cases which have tarnished his reputation. However, the Qatari leader ignores these problems and has recently been re-elected as head of the ECA until 2027.
Considered by many to be the most powerful football leader in Europe, NAK is often the subject of articles in order to better understand the character behind the boss of Paris Saint-Germain. This Sunday, Relevo published a paper tracing the 49-year-old leader’s rise to power. Presented as being benevolent and attentive to many of his collaborators according to several comments collected by our Iberian colleagues, the latter also revealed the behind the scenes. And this part of their publication is much less positive for the president of PSG.
Intimidation against agents, veto against journalists
In fact, Spanish journalists collected the words of one of their former counterparts from The Team. According to the latter, a former editor-in-chief of the daily, several of the information he had obtained provoked the ire of NAK who demanded his head in the newspaper: “It happened several times that I gave information that the club considered harmful and asked for my head in the newspaper. This same person was pressured by the president. People around him have expressed their anger to me; whenever he can, he takes advantage of his power to intimidate and he generally succeeds.» As a reminder, the capital club had imposed its veto in 2018 on the entry of certain journalists from this editorial staff during several press conferences.
Even better, Relevo managed to collect the edifying words of Donato Di Campli, the former agent of Marco Verratti, who denounces an attempt at intimidation by Al-Khelaïfi which would have worked with his former client: “PSG’s attitude is still that of blackmail. We decided to go to Barcelona. This obviously did not please the emir. Al Khelaïfi even told me that if I continued to try to do the operation with Barça, Verratti was going to leave me. And that’s how it happened. Marco was probably scared, he wouldn’t admit it, but that’s how it is.» In the leader’s clan, the latter is described as quite moody according to the agents: “with some representatives he is a gentleman, with others he does not even see them. I know he’s personally asked for the heads of several agents, he tends to get what he wants.» Described as both an impetuous and angry person, the president of PSG nonetheless remains defended tooth and nail by Qatar and his status at PSG makes him one of the most powerful men in world football.
