L Equipe: PSG academy dissatisfied with first-team attitude; Cabaye and Campos at odds

Hupu reported on October 16 that a team of reporters from French media L’Equipe wrote a column on the relationship between Paris Saint-Germain’s youth training and professional echelons.

In recent years, the relationship between the Paris first team and the youth academy has been subject to change, which involves different experiences, such as Luis Fernandez's experience in the youth academy, and Zumana Camara's experience as a professional player's assistant.

Nasser closely followed the development of the youth academy and sometimes even harshly criticized its development. A few weeks ago, the PSG president expressed his dissatisfaction with the summer departures of some young players (such as Thape, Sangaré, etc.). In addition, he also believes that there are currently not enough quality players capable of playing for the first team.

In the process, he contacted the sports management to understand the root cause of these problems and asked them about the youth recruitment process, support and development. The Qatari then invited training center director John Cabaye and football director Luis Campos to work on the issues.

Kabaye did maintain close direct contact with Nasser.

Luis Enrique has been here since the beginning of the season to observe young players. Last season, the Spaniard organized a course for coaches to explain his coaching style.

"From then on, everyone wanted to play like the first-team players, and Cabaye even taught to follow his advice," the center staff said. For the Parisian mood, Enrique's ideas are more like blending into his own system.

Recently, Assistant Director of the First Team Gagne congratulated some employees of the Youth Academy, explaining that the young players newly integrated into Luis Enrique's team (Njatu, Kafi, Slama, Yangier) showed "a good mental state, are very polite, respectful, and understand the professional code."

Despite the pause, it did not eliminate some sensitive issues between youth training and first-team staff.

"Lack of contact", "lack of dialogue", "lack of meetings", "sometimes only superficial discussions" or "no follow-up": the expressions of feelings of some Academy members reveal relationships that need to be improved.

The day after the 0-1 loss to Marseille on September 22, Luis Enrique and his team pointed out that the transfer window was not yet completely over and more continuous training was needed.

Enrique then called someone to call the U23 head coach and asked him to send four young players to train the next day.

L'Equipe was told, "There is not even direct communication between the two management teams, nor the two technical teams..."

The promotions of Njatu and Mathis Younger did not cause much of a stir. The promotions of Yanis Kafi and Waseem Slama are slightly more eye-catching.

"No one even asked for our opinion," continued a source at the training center. "We are all surprised by Yanis, who still has room for improvement. But Mathieu Lesconnet and John Cabaye do not want Wasim to enter the first team directly because his physical condition is not suitable. He has just returned from injury."

The first-team management ignored these suggestions. The club denied this and pointed out that the decision was taken after discussions between Gagne and Cabaye.

In addition to this specific case, some employees mentioned the tension between Cabaye and Campos in recent weeks, and they even created two negotiation models: the "Cabaye Contract" and the "Campos Contract."

Both parties negotiate independently without consulting the other party. Top management again denied the tensions.

"The training center is keen for change, but not everyone likes it. This has sparked some rumors, but John has the support of the chairman," they explained within the club.