Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino said yesterday he was “100 percent” sure both he and star striker Kylian Mbappe would be at the club next season. Pochettino is completing his first full season as PSG coach. In his first season the club have regained the Ligue 1 title but suffered another meltdown in the knockout rounds of the Champions League, this time against Real Madrid.
Meanwhile Mbappe, who is coveted by Real, has still not extended his PSG contract which expires at the end of June. Asked at a press conference about what the chances were that he and Mbappe will be at the club next season, Pochettino replied: “100 percent in both cases”.
He at once added a qualification. “That’s what I can perceive, feel today. In football, you can expect a lot of things but that’s what I feel today,” said Pochettino. Pochettino is under contract until 2023 but PSG sporting director Leonardo was less than reassuring when he said on Saturday that he wanted to “speak with everyone, not only with the coach but also the players, to clarify situations and decide on the strategy”.
Media in France have reported that PSG have offered Mbappe huge sums of money, but that the 23-year-old World Cup winner has been blowing hot and cold. Leonardo has said Mbappe is still “reflecting” on his future and a meeting between his family and PSG took place last week in Doha.

Raiola angered at media reports of his death
Football “super agent” Mino Raiola shot back yesterday at widespread media claims that he had died at the age of 54, taking to Twitter to say he was angered by the reports. Reports of the death of Raiola, whose clients include Paul Pogba and one of world football’s current hottest properties, Erling Braut Haaland, quickly spread from Italy. It was the second time this year that speculation surrounding his health has been denied by Raiola or his entourage. “Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate (sic),” Raiola’s official Twitter account said.
Raiola’s agency had earlier said that reports of his death were “fake news” after Italian media widely claimed that he had passed away. The Gazzetta Dello Sport, Italy’s most prestigious sports daily, even published an obituary for Raiola, who was born in southern Italy but raised in the Netherlands.
Italian news agency ANSA quoted Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the intensive care unit at the San Raffaele hospital just outside Milan, as suggesting that Raiola was fighting for his life.
Raiola, whose clients also include AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is one of the sport’s most influential agents and most controversial characters. He has been accused of inflating player salaries to unsustainable levels and has been embroiled in controversy over commissions made on transfers.
In 2016, former Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta said Raiola earned 27mn euros ($28.3mn) from the sale of France international Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United that summer. A report claimed that Raiola had received 49mn euros from three parties in the then world record 105 million-euro transfer.