Luis Campos “We are in talks over Messi’s contract”

Luis Campos, PSG’s sporting advisor, has spoken in an interview with Telefoot to discuss the latest ongoings at PSG. The French club had a poor winter transfer window after failing to sign a single player. Campos began the interview by talking about the issue with signing Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech. “We did everything we could to sign Ziyech. All three parties had to work. There was predisposition from our side, from the player, but not from Chelsea, unfortunately at the last moment,” he said.

Campos, criticised by PSG fans after his first two transfer windows at the club, acknowledged “being 100 per cent involved” in the project and also had words for Kylian Mbappé, whose renewal “was the most important event of the year for the project” and who he noticed was “sad” after getting injured against Montpellier. The setback will keep him out for three weeks and will prevent him, barring a miracle, from playing in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Bayern Munich. “Losing Kylian, of course, it’s hard. I saw him very down after his injury. But I also saw him today working to speed up his recovery as quickly as possible. That’s the personality of winners,” he added.

Messi’s future at PSG

He also discussed Messi’s contract renewal. The Argentine has yet to sign anything with PSG despite the two sides having reached an agreement in principle during the last World Cup. “At the moment we are negotiating with Messi for his renewal. I would love to keep him in, I can’t hide that. We are negotiating to achieve that objective and to keep him with us (...) I remember a word I said to Messi at half-time against Montpellier: ‘you have to take everyone else with you’. He replied: ‘take it easy’. And he played an exceptional second half.

On Neymar, the PSG adviser added: “The truth is that since I arrived at PSG I have no criticism to make of Neymar... always punctual, always in a good mood. This Neymar, he’s an incredible Neymar.” The former Barcelona man turns 31 on Sunday, just nine days before his side face Bayern in the Champions League.