Exclusive: Why PSG missed out on Lozano and De Ligt
The French side were heavily linked with a move for Paulo Dybala, who could have joined them if Neymar had left PSG. They signed Ander Herrera, Idrissa Gueye, Pablo Sarabia and Abdou Diallo. Not just that, but the Parisiens were also after Hirving Lozano and Matthijs de Ligt earlier in the transfer market.
Our correspondent Fabrizio Romano understands that the return of Leonardo to the club saw them back out of deals for both the players.
Antero Henrique was very keen on both the players during his reign and he was very close to signing the both of them too. Mino Raiola's relations with PSG were very good at this point.
The appointment of Leonardo came as a big surprise to many, including Raiola. PSG cooled off on the De Ligt front, allowing Juventus and Barcelona to go ahead in the chase.
Leonardo then went away from the Lozano chase too and soon after, the idea of signing James Rodriguez also diminished. Raiola ended up being very angry with PSG and then went the Italian route to hand Lozano to Napoli and De Ligt to Juventus.