Luis Enrique, first! After a salvo of friendly matches, the 53-year-old Spanish technician will lead his first official match at the head of PSG this Saturday (9 p.m.), against Lorient, during the first day of Ligue 1. It will obviously be without Kylian Mbappé, absent from the group of 20 players unveiled this Saturday morning. The crack of Bondy is sidelined by his management because of his refusal to extend a contract which only runs until 2024. Pushed towards the exit, Neymar and Marco Verratti are also missing. “There are the words, but my actions are even more telling. My actions will show what my ideas are”, explained “Lucho” Friday, in a press conference, about his plans for the two players. Note that the club evoked a “viral syndrome” to explain the absence of the Brazilian in training on Friday. The Italian, he participated normally in the session with the rest of his teammates.
Among the 20 players selected, we find in particular eight of the nine Parisian recruits of the summer. Not Ousmane Dembélé, whose signature was not formalized until Saturday morning. Two comebacks, Keylor Navas and Layvin Kurzawa, loaned abroad last season. In addition to Mbappé, Neymar and Verratti, we note the absences of Nordi Mukiele, Presnel Kimpembe or Nuno Mendes, injured or in the recovery phase. All without forgetting the “lofters”, these players placed on the transfer list by the club, such as Gini Wijnaldum, Abdou Diallo or Leandro Paredes.
