Christophe Galtier To Depart From New French Champions Lille

Lille boss Christophe Galtier, has announced that he would be departing the club, just two days after winning the French Ligue 1 title.

On the final day of the 2020/2021 season they defeated Angers 2-1 to ensure they finished the league one point ahead of PSG and were crowned Champions for the first time since 2011.

Lille took four points off rivals PSG, with a goalless draw at home, and beating them 1-0 in Paris, during the campaign.

Thanks to 21-year-ols Canadian striker Jonathan David and 35-year-old veteran Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz, who both had 29 goals between them, as they scored in the title-clinching win last Sunday.

The 54-year-old French manager still has a year left in his contract, but he is set to be moving on due to an uncertain future faced by the club, with owner Gerard Lopez being forced to sell due to financial pressure.

Lille also lost Luis Campos, the Portuguese super-scout who built the Monaco team that denied PSG the title in 2017.

Christophe Galtier told L’Equipe on Tuesday he was stepping down to avoid “falling into a routine”.

“simply have the deep belief that my time is up here,” he told the French paper.

"I just feel now is the moment."

Galtier was appointed manager of the Lille in December 2017 (Midway through the season), taking over from Marcelo Bielsa with the club in serious relegation danger.

He avoided relegation by a single point in 2018, then guided the club to a second place finish behind Paris Saint-Germain in his first full season.

Lille were fourth when last season ended early because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Galtier also took the club to the knock-out stages of the Europa League this season, where they crashed out with a 4-2 aggregate score against Ajax in the round-of-32.

He is set to join either Nice and Lyon in Franc, or Serie A’s side Napoli who recently sacked their boss Gennaro Gattuso for slipping out of the top 4 position in their final day game.