The Paris Saint-Germain striker spoke about the tensions that exist between the Parisians and their coach Fabrice Abriel.
Forward Marie-Antoinette Katoto spoke to AFP about a “heavy atmosphere” at PSG since the start of the season, marked by tensions between players and coach Fabrice Abriel, but wants to “move forward”. “It’s heavy, the atmosphere is heavy, we have to get to the bottom of it and tell each other things”, said the Parisian centre-forward about the tensions in the locker room since Fabrice Abriel’s arrival this summer.
The season “started off on a very bad footing and with misunderstandings during this transfer window”, added the PSG star, mentioning in particular the departure to OL of top scorer Tabitha Chawinga. Sandy Baltimore and Oriane Jean-François also left PSG for Chelsea, as did goalkeeper Constance Picaud who signed for Fleury. Defender Griedge Mbock and goalkeeper Mary Earps went the other way.
“You have to accept some departures and move forward. We can’t stay in this in-between: either we’re all together and we go to war together, or we continue to cry and we’re going to have a very long season,” she insisted.
Asked about the tensions between Fabrice Abriel and Grace Geyoro, deprived of the captaincy and excluded from the group on Saturday against Dijon (6-1), “MAK” simply replied: “What happens between them, that’s none of my business.”
A “decision already made” for her future
Between the coach and her, “that hasn’t changed.” “I’m here to train and play. He’s a good coach who knows football well, he’s a former professional player, he knows what he wants to put in place, he knows what he’s doing,” said Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who had spoken highly of the new coach at the start of the season.
Regarding PSG’s early elimination from the Champions League, Katoto acknowledged that the start of the season had been “difficult”. “We were able to bounce back well, I’m very happy and proud because it really wasn’t easy to get back on track after this kind of failure that happened very early on,” she said.
At the end of her contract at the end of the season, “MAK” assured that her “decision has already been made and that it will not change”. If negotiations are underway with the club for an extension? “No”. If she wants to leave PSG? “We’ll see.”
Arriving at Clairefontaine on Monday for the gathering of the French women’s team, Grace Geyoro then reacted, to L’Équipe, to the tense situation between her and her coach at PSG. “I can’t control what people say, or what happens,” she explained. “I can’t do anything about meanness or injustice. I want to be me, above all. I was looking forward to it. It’s a real breath of fresh air. Here, I can train properly, express myself, play matches and have fun. Laurent Bonadei (Editor’s note: the coach of Les Bleues) counts on me a lot, so I give my all for him! This confidence is a pleasure.”
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