Paris Saint-Germain's French head coach Laurent Blanc gives a press conference on the eve of the team's UEFA Champions League football match against Chelsea, on February 15, 2016 at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. / AFP / FRANCK FIFE (Photo credit should read FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)
Laurent Blanc will not be the manager of Paris Saint-Germain next season. The Frenchman's agent confirmed that the two sides had agreed to part ways.
"Before the end of the week, PSG and Laurent Blanc will be parted," he told radio station Europe1.
It's not a surprise that Blanc won't be at PSG next season. There have been rumors that he would leave the club for months, or that the club would fire him. It hasn't been a happy relationship for some time and now that relationship is over.
Getting rid of Blanc is a bold move from PSG considering his successes at the Parc des Princes. He won Ligue 1 three times in three years at the club, added two Coupe de France titles and went to three Champions League quarterfinals.
PSG will undoubtedly point to Blanc's inability to get past the quarterfinals in Europe, but that's harsh considering he went out to Chelsea on away goals, then Barcelona, then Manchester City. It's hard to say he underachieved, with the loss to City the only time they lost to a team that wasn't clearly better, but even then a more clinical Zlatan Ibrahimovic would have seen them through.
Now Blanc is gone, and so is Ibrahimovic. And that may be part of PSG's plan.
What PSG have done to this point hasn't been good enough, at least not by their standards. They've tried buying the biggest names in the world, young and old. They've tried big name managers, like Carlo Ancelotti, and French legends like Blanc. None of it has worked.
Now the club are reportedly set to hire Unai Emery, who has worked magic at both Valencia and Sevilla. He has never been on as big of a stage as he will be at PSG, but he's shown he's capable of building a team with a system that is sustainable and has players fit the system, rather than oddly fitting a system to players. They don't have their manager or biggest player anymore. PSG can rebuild the club and send it in a new direction.
Maybe that will be the way forward for PSG. If so, it's hard to argue with their decision to move on from Blanc. Reinventing the club may he wise, even if it will be difficult and require much more than simply hiring Emery. But if they choose to simply change the man at the top and have Emery run the same club that Blanc did, minus Ibrahimovic, then PSG may find themselves right where they are now -- good, but a clear step below Europe's elite.
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