Thomas Tuchel Reveals What He Really Thinks of Neymar and Discusses His Targets at PSG

?After a long, long transfer saga that spanned the whole summer, Neymar finally remained at PSG against his own wishes amid serious interest from Barcelona.

Despite a good start to the season, fans of the French champions have continued to express their anger towards the Brazilian star, but manager Thomas Tuchel believes the relationship between the two sides is finally healing.

The German was speaking exclusively to ?the Guardian and said: “The supporters have expressed their opinions and I can understand them, absolutely. It’s their right to express themselves.

“They’re proud of their club and it’s not so nice when you hear your player talking for weeks and weeks saying he wants to leave. As I told Neymar, sometimes it’s like this in life – you have to face the truth and deal with the consequences.”

However, Tuchel added that a lot of negativity the player receives in the press about his character is unwarranted, and that he has ‘a nice heart’.

He explained: “?Neymar has a good heart. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to see that he is a nice person when you only watch him play from outside. But he is, he’s a nice guy.

“I told him: ‘You think the hardest part is over but from now on you have to deal with me and I’m going to push you hard. So the hardest thing is still to come for you.”

PSG currently sit at the top of both Ligue 1 and their Champions League group, but the season is only a few months old. Tuchel was asked about his targets for the club this campaign, and what he deems a successful season.

He said: “I have no clear definition. Points count, definitely, titles count if you go to a club like PSG, that’s the way it is. But there’s also the relationships with the players, the connection with the players, sometimes helping a player through a difficult period in his career. That’s also success, no? 

“There’s more to life than points and trophies but we’re all very competitive and we all want to win every game.”

With a tricky period now approaching for Tuchel and his men – which includes three games in nine days – the 46-year-old was questioned about the difficulty of being a manager, and if you have to be slightly mad to take up the role.

“Yes, you have to be,” Tuchel replied. “It was pretty obvious from the start because even when you’re the coach of the under-14s or the under-15s in the academy, although you don’t have to deal with the press or the media you do have to deal with the parents and sometimes I’m not sure which is worse.

“You have to deal with the pressure inside the academies, the parents who want the best for their kids and how you don’t always share the same opinions. But we’re all crazy in love with football so we accept it.”

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