PSG's Part-Time Sporting Director Underscores Issues at the Club
Luis Campos splits his time between Celta and PSG, leading many to ask if this is the best way to run a professional football club.
The state of affairs when it comes to Paris Saint-Germain baffles me.
Here is a club that considers itself one of the biggest on the world stage. Yet, by outside onlookers, PSG is more like your fresh-out-of-college coworker that purports to know everything but has done very little to warrant such confidence.
Paris Saint-Germain has endless financial resources at its disposal but the leadership of a college intramural league.
Let's get to the point. Luis Campos is PSG's Sporting Director—or, should we say, advisor. Campos is actually the sporting director at RC Celta. PSG lacks a sporting director and instead uses Campos' agency as consultants.
There are so many questions that need addressing. First, during a summer transfer window where Campos needs to strengthen the squad to entice Kylian Mbappé to stay long-term and compete for a UEFA Champions League title, apparently, there is time to be advising and making deals for another club. How can PSG hope to keep Mbappé beyond the upcoming season if the club can’t get a full commitment from its sporting director?
PSG are notorious for having a short lease on managers and directors, which doesn’t inspire anyone at any level of the organization to have trust that something special can be built in the French capital. I would even argue that PSG’s president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, is part-time, given his numerous jobs.
My question for PSG is, are you collectively that incompetent that you have a guy who can’t be bothered to work for you full-time because you have the propensity to sack sporting directors and managers on a whim? Using an agency managed by a respected sporting director instead of retaining him yourself may have its pros, but it certainly makes the water murky with cons.
For example, what if Campos discovers the next Lionel Messi. A young, talented player with an exceptional upside. Would he steer the player to Celta or bring him to PSG?
PSG is a revolving door of managers, making it an undesirable position for most. It’s also a club that, at every junction, has tried to take a shortcut. The approach has routinely been short-sighted and half-baked. PSG’s “sporting director” is splitting time with another club in another country, and somehow, this is viewed as a reasonable course of action.
I don’t blame Campos personally; the existing systems should prevent such a situation. It’s important to remember that when deals are left incomplete or transfer windows are lackluster, PSG shares its “sporting director” with another club. It will inspire more casuals to scream about sacking the manager again. It will cause calls for Campos to lose his job at PSG. It will create a hostile working environment with the Ultras. But, doing this treats the symptoms of the illness, not the root cause. The cause lies with the individuals who have fostered an environment where part-time directors are allowed.