'PSG lost two years the day they recruited Emery', says Silva's agent

Thiago Silva’s agent reckons Unai Emery’s spell as manager lost PSG two years of progress in their hunt for that elusive Champions League title.

Emery replaced the ousted Laurent Blanc in France during the summer of 2016 upon winning three consecutive Europa League titles with Sevilla.

He took charge of Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year contract with an option for a third, but knowing that only Champions League success would be enough. Back-to-back exits in the last-16 stage followed.

The biggest one of all was the ‘Remontada’ on 2016/17, which saw PSG blow a 4-0 first-leg lead to Barcelona in the return leg by losing 6-1 in the match and 6-5 on aggregate.

Emery may have ended his second season with a treble in Ligue 1, Coupe de France, and Coupe de la Ligue success, but the PSG board longed for glory and replaced him with Thomas Tuchel in 2018.

The German coach has since led the Parisians to their first-ever Champions League final, which they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich, and had hoped to keep Thiago Silva for next season.

Now the new-Chelsea defender’s agent, Paulo Tonietto, has explained how Emery was a terrible choice of coach for the club.

“PSG lost two years the day they recruited him,” Tonietto told L’Equipe.

“His problem is that he has trouble managing the stars. In Paris, it was the players who solved the situation after Neymar and [Edinson] Cavani clashed on-field over a penalty. When he went to Arsenal, the first player he got angry with was Mesut Ozil

“He’s a good coach to play in the Europa League, not the Champions League. The suit was too big for him. He was a terrible coach for PSG.

“If there had been a coach of another caliber during these two years, PSG would have already won the Champions League.”

Emery, who later replaced Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager in 2018, lost his job in London last year and recently became the new manager of Villarreal in La Liga.