Mercato PSG: Tuchel sends a strong message to Lucas Hernandez

This was Thursday's big mercato news. According to FootMercato and Sport1, Lucas Hernandez has received a handsome offer from PSG and has decided to put talks with Bayern Munich about extending his contract, which expires in 2024, on hold. Following this, L'Equipe revealed that an agreement in principle had been reached between PSG and Lucas Hernandez, and that the Parisian club would now have to come to an agreement with Bayern.

This information was denied in Germany by Bild, who confirmed that Lucas Hernandez has no agreement with the Parisian club and is instead close to extending his contract at Bayern. According to Munich-based media outlet TZ, Bayern Munich are very surprised by the news from France and have no intention of parting with Lucas Hernandez during the summer mercato, the idea being to extend his contract. According to TZ, the player even had dinner with his management this week, and Thomas Tuchel is counting on him.

Lucas Hernández and PSG have not reached an agreement. Bayern are unaware of this and there's big astonishment at the club regarding the recent rumours. Hernández is rather close to extending his contract at FC Bayern [@altobelli13, @cfbayern, Bayern-Insider] pic.twitter.com/jHBykMAZQX

— Bayern Germany (@iMiaSanMia) May 26, 2023

"Lucas plays an important role in my plans".

At a press conference on Friday, on the eve of the final Bundesliga matchday, Thomas Tuchel confirmed that he was counting on his French international, who has just returned from a serious knee injury: "He won't be part of the team tomorrow. It would be more than irresponsible to include him. He's only trained partially and without contact. I heard (the rumours) and was surprised. Lucas plays an important role in my projects, he's a leader for me."

A statement likely to influence Lucas Hernandez? According to Kerry Hau, journalist for Sport1, the left-handed defender has yet to make a final decision. "He has two options (transfer to PSG or new contract at Bayern) and it's up to Lucas to decide. Several sources close to him reconfirmed to me today that he is attracted by the PSG offer but that a contract extension is also possible. That's the situation," he tweeted.