When Halilhodzic nearly sent Pauleta packing from PSG

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·22 April 2026

When Halilhodzic nearly sent Pauleta packing from PSG

While Vahid Halilhodzic was supposed to fully reunite with Paris Saint-Germain this Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the postponed match from Ligue 1’s 26th round, the FC Nantes coach is suspended. A punishment following an angry outburst at the referee against Brest last weekend. Pedro Miguel Pauleta, PSG striker from 2003 to 2008, happened to share an anecdote a few days ago with Ici Paris about the strong character of the coach who arrived at PSG in May 2003. It was a conversation that took place after his first training session at the preseason camp in Aix-les-Bains.

Pauleta: “The boss at PSG is me, not you.”

“He calls me into his room to talk to me. I arrive and he starts threatening me from every angle: ‘Who do you think you are? The boss at PSG is me, not you.

Pauleta: “I want to go back to Bordeaux, I don’t want to stay here!”

The guy called me 50 times to get me to come to PSG, and then he starts pissing me off. I left the room, I called my agent, and I said: ‘Listen, I want to go back to Bordeaux, I don’t want to stay here!’ He didn’t want another Ronaldinho to arrive at PSG, someone who thinks he can do whatever he wants. I’m the opposite, that’s not the way I am in life or in football. But anyway, he wanted to assert himself right away in our first conversation.”

It is a very unusual episode, which also recalls the fairly negative atmosphere that could settle in at PSG during those years. Including the Ronaldinho saga, but not only that. It was a period of major turbulence in Paris, and they had to fight, even to avoid relegation, in order to get through it.

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Meanwhile, with Halilhodzic’s particularly harsh methods, sparks nearly caused other problems. In particular, Pauleta’s hasty departure, the big signing of summer 2003, who did not appreciate the welcome. Even if it was hard to imagine another move right after the transfer.

At the very least, the Portuguese managed to hang tough and fully show his great mentality. Enough to leave his mark on the club’s history and, for a time, become its all-time top scorer, despite an adventure marked by the difficulties around him.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.