Thomas Tuchel says he cannot guarantee both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe will be lining up for Paris Saint-Germain at the start of next season.
Both players have been linked with moves away from the Parc des Princes and, though Tuchel wants them to stay, he says he isn’t ‘naive’ enough to assume anything.
Brazilian star Neymar has been repeatedly linked with a transfer to Real Madrid since he joined PSG from Barcelona for a world record fee of £198million in the summer of 2017.
And France striker Mbappe hinted at a departure when he admitted he was open to a ‘new project’ at an awards ceremony earlier this month. PSG manager Tuchel, who was in Monaco for Sunday’s Grand Prix, told Sky Sports: “I am used to this. Now it is May, the stuff that I say now might not be true next month. Things are like they are, there is a lot of speculation which means we have a lot of quality and talent.”
“My wish as a manager and as a coach is clear, I want all my players to stay at PSG and stay with our project. The work is not finished, it has just started. My wish is clear, but I can’t promise as that would be naive and I don’t want to be naive in this business.”
Tuchel signed a contract extension until 2021 over the weekend having led PSG to a successful defence of their Ligue 1 title. But they failed to win either of the domestic cups and were beaten in the last-16 of the Champions League by Manchester United, their third consecutive exit at that stage of the competition.
