PSG coach, Christopher Galtier has denied claims he ‘moaned about having too many black and Muslim players and allegedly asked stars not to observe Ramadan’ while in charge of Nice.
Galtier is alleged to have made comments about having ‘too many black and Muslim players’ in his former team by Nice’s former director of football Julien Fournier in a leaked email published by French football reporter Romain Molina.
Another report by local French media outlet Nice-Matin also claimed that during a five-game winning streak, the 56-year-old asked Muslim players not to observe Ramadan.
They additionally reported that out of the players asked by Galtier, some accepted, while Hicham Boudaoui and Jean-Clair Todibo refused the request.
However, in a press release sent to AFP, Galtier’s lawyer Olivier Martin said that along with a denial, the PSG boss ‘contests with the greatest firmness’ the claims, while he ‘learned with amazement of the insulting and defamatory remarks’ alleged in Fournier’s email. He also announced that ‘legal proceedings’ were to come.
An investigation has been launched by PSG into the actions of their manager, according to RMC, who also claim that the club’s chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi first found out about the claims while in Qatar.
It is suggested that the PSG chief wants to oversee the investigation himself and will remove Galtier from his position at the club if the alleged allegations are proven correct.
However, Nice’s previous director Fournier who has been accused of leaking the email containing the original information has denied that he did so, and suggested the email was sent after he left the club.
Fournier is currently away in Brazil but defiantly told Nice Matin that he is not the source of the apparent email that has been leaked to French media.
‘I am in Brazil right now and far away from this controversy, to which I am associated at my expense. I am in no way at the source of the circulation of this internal information, which went back a year from the time I left the club.
‘I would never kick anyone while they are down, despite my disagreements with Christophe Galtier, and most of all I have too much respect for OGC Nice – a club whose colours I proudly defended for ten years – as well as the people who are there, who right now are preparing for one of the biggest games in their history in Europe.
‘The timing of these revelations outrages me as much as their content does,’ he added.
