Football
Jonathan Johnson, PSG correspondent 7y

Emir of Qatar, not Leonardo, signed Marco Verratti for PSG - Rothen

Former Paris Saint-Germain player Jerome Rothen has claimed the Emir of Qatar rather than former sporting director Leonardo was responsible for bringing Marco Verratti to the club in 2012.

Rothen, who played for PSG between 2004 and 2010 and is now a pundit, told RMC: "Leonardo had nothing to do with Marco joining PSG.

"What happened was that the Emir of Qatar was watching a match in Italy and immediately became a fan [of (Verratti].

"He started to follow Pescara and became passionate about him.

"The Emir watched almost every game. He said Verratti was his type of player and then did what he could to attract him to PSG.

"Aside from that, Leonardo had a say in the signings of [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. It was easier to attract them with the chequebook."

Rothen also claimed that Ibrahimovic "has never earned as much in his life as he did at PSG."

Since joining in 2012, Verratti has become an integral part of the starting XI and has signed a number of significant contract extensions, the most recent of them this summer.

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