Obviously, the ultras had some messages to convey on Saturday evening. While PSG faced the bottom Clermont (1-1) and four days before the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League against Barcelona, the banners flourished in the Virage Auteuil. “President Nasser, Mr. Campos and coach Enrique, a trio that puts PSG in the spotlight,” greeted the CUP at the start of the game. A compliment which reflected a strong desire for sacred union as the major European meeting approaches.
But the fans were not satisfied with this banner! Still in the first period, they actually deployed another: “The only Enrique we want at PSG is Luis”. It was necessary to see, here again, praise for the coach who enjoys a very good rating among the supporters but, in turn, also a tackle to Antero Henrique. The former sporting director of the club was entitled to this murderous message in the process: “Antero Henrique, the cancer of PSG”.
If the timing is of interest, the substance intervenes in a somewhat particular context. Since the announcement of the departure of Kylian Mbappé at the end of the season, the distrust of some internally has increased and it is not uncommon for the name of the former sports director of PSG (2017-2019) to come back from more and more to explain it. Luis Campos, in particular, criticizes Antero Henrique for wanting to stick his nose in his affairs and is very wary of a man who has never gone very far from PSG since he occupies the strategic position of sports director of the Qatar League . Nobody has forgotten the first transfer window that the two men had to lead together in the summer of 2022.
And here comes the Henrique-Campos rivalry…
Having just been appointed football advisor to the club, Luis Campos complained about his compatriot’s work to several people during this period, accusing him of slowing down certain sales, which would have prevented him from moving forward more quickly on issues that he considered priority in the rank of arrivals. In recent months, Henrique has also blown away recruitments that he would not have validated.
Antero Henrique is thus credited with the idea of Luis Diaz, the Colombian winger from Liverpool, whose name came up in March and who does not appear among the tracks marked Campos. Last summer, he took the initiative to offer striker Elye Wahi without Paris ultimately moving forward with this reinforcement. These episodes are repeated and leave unclear the influence he still exercises near PSG.
In the midst of these tensions which seemed to have receded over the months, Parisian supporters appear to have chosen their camp. They had already not spared Antero Henrique when he was replaced by Leonardo in June 2019. His name reappeared without much expectation on Saturday evening, and the tone was really not warm.
