Luis Enrique and the press, I love you neither

During the end-of-year holidays, the sports editorial team of Le Figaro brings you a series on the personalities who have annoyed in 2024. For various and varied reasons. Today, Luis Enrique, the great friend of journalists.

“It’s going to be fine. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I want.”. This is what Luis Enrique explained about his future relations with the French media, on July 5, 2023, during his first press conference as PSG coach. We can seriously doubt the last part. Already not very fond of meetings with journalists in his previous functions, at FC Barcelona or at the head of La Roja for example, the 54-year-old Spanish coach makes absolutely no effort to smooth things over. He doesn’t want to and it shows. After two months on the Parisian bench, he was criticized by the leaders of PSG on this subject. We had, in essence, explained to him that there was no point in going to war with the media, especially since the climate was very favorable.

“If you give me the choice, if you tell me that I sign a paper and that I no longer speak with the press and that they take away 25 or even 50% (of my salary), I sign”he said last September. There, we can take his word for it. The media exercise bores him at best, it irritates him at worst. After the defeat against Arsenal at the beginning of October, he did not pretend on Canal+. “I have no intention of explaining the tactic to you because you wouldn’t understand it”he thundered. Atmosphere… In these conditions, it’s difficult to do your job…

I prefer to be criticized, I’m more used to that.

Luis Enrique

In any case, “Lucho” had warned: “My actions will speak louder than my words”. It is indeed more appropriate to decipher his decisions than his press conferences, during which he says everything and its opposite. He can also say anything, like his lunar answers about the weather which would give indications as to Kylian Mbappé’s playing time last season. Obviously, Luis Enrique is not stupid. He is “well aware” of what journalists, and their respective readers/listeners/viewers, expect, namely that it “go into details” to explain his choices, “it’s logical” he agrees. Yes, but no. Concerning Randal Kolo Muani, he said this before Monaco-PSG: “I could explain it, but I don’t”. And to continue: “I won’t go into depth about the decisions, I won’t go into details. It’s something I’ve never done, I prefer to be criticized, I’m more used to that”. It’s actually easier to pose as a victim than to respond.

And when he is not posing as a martyr, Luis Enrique likes to play the opposite role. Counterfire as a weapon. It’s even an art at this level. A few weeks ago, the Spanish strategist dared to assert that the current season is “the best of (his) career“, at least “statistically”. Except that even at the statistical level, it is a blatant lie. You only need to delve five minutes into the figures of “his” Barça to be sure. One example among many. He plays. Makes a spectacle of himself. Protects his players and the institution. That’s already it.

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Dissensions with the locker room?

It’s up to him to help Paris Saint-Germain win. So far, so good… in Ligue 1. One thing is certain: he likes Paris. The opposite would be surprising: he is supported by a management under the spell and can spend (almost) without counting in the transfer window. All with a considerable salary and a contract until 2026. The opposite would be surprising… He likes Paris but he annoys, probably more than anyone in the world of football today. The problem would be that he also starts to annoy internally. And in recent weeks, some sources have already reported certain dissensions with the locker room. “When a player doesn’t really want to see me or isn’t very happy to see me, I try to respect his space and accept his position”he insists. The journalists have no choice, even if he is not particularly happy to see them the day before and after each Paris Saint-Germain match…