'Great' Ibrahimovic important for PSG, says new PSG Coach Laurent Blanc

The newly-appointed boss at Parc des Princes has made it clear there will be movement in the transfer window but underlined the value of the Sweden star to the club

Found new Job - Laurent Blanc

Laurent Blanc underlined the importance of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain as he addressed the media for the first time as the new coach of the Ligue 1 champions.

Ibrahimovic has been linked with a return to Italy in the past few months despite his sensational opening season in French football, with the departure of coach Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid likely to accelerate rumours surrounding his future.

Blanc, however, has made it clear he has no plans to offload the Sweden star, although he did indicate a busy summer of transfers to come.

“Ibra is important for PSG,” Blanc told reporters.

“He proved that he is a great player and a great professional. With his status, I hope it will be an example in terms of his attitude.

“I hope the team will improve [next season]. We'll try to find a balance between efficiency and quality of play. I can understand your impatience. But on transfers and game organization, I cannot answer you right away.

“There are a lot of players on the team, some who return to us from loan. The transfer period is long enough, there will be movement, departures and arrivals."

Blanc's appointment came after weeks of speculation over the PSG hotseat, with the likes of Massimiliano Allegri, Andre Villas-Boas and Arsene Wenger all linked with the role at different stages, but the former France boss insists he is now simply focused on preparations for the coming campaign.

“My arrival is late but the most important thing is that I’m here," the 47-year-old continued. "There are lots of coaches on the market, there is more movement. It does not matter not being the first in a list, the most important thing is to be chosen in the end and when this is the case it is necessary to look to the future.

“There were a lot of things to do in the last 48 hours, like preparing staff and the pre-season. Afterwards I will discuss with players, they will not all come back at the same time.

“The staff is not yet fully determined. We talked about that with Leonardo. Willingness to work is shared with [assistant coach] Claude Makelele and me. I will come over with [France assistant] Jean-Louis Gasset.

“We need to be realistic, we all love freedom. But as a coach I owe explanations to the sport director and president.

“We have not yet talked about goals, but I can guess it: doing as well as last season in terms of titles and better in terms of play makes a great team.”



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