Le Guen stays at PSG despite taking them to the brink

Paul Le Guen was retained on Tuesday as coach of ailing French football giants Paris Saint Germain despite having been one match away from seeing them relegated this season.

The former Lyon and Rangers coach – who has been in charge since January 2007 and whose contract runs till 2009 – was also handed a 15-20million euros transfer budget to revamp the underperforming squad.

He was confirmed in his position after having lunch with newly-appointed club president Charles Villeneuve, a former journalist.

“Paul Le Guen, who I lunched with earlier, has been retained as coach,” said Villeneuve, who has been described by former television associates as while being extremely capable as also being odious and cold.

Villeneuve, who added that he and Le Guen got on very well, said it was too early to say who would be appointed sports director or names of potential recruits.

However, Le Guen, who nevertheless guided PSG to the League Cup trophy and to a narrow 1-0 defeat by French champions Lyon in last weekend's French Cup final, said he had a worthwhile budget for purchasing players for next season.

“One can say that the budget will be between 15 to 20million euros,” said Le Guen, who won the 1996 Cup Winners Cup as a player with PSG.

“In any case it is important to talk about real figures and not to be accused afterwards of not using them.

“What are our needs? It is a question of re-enforcing positions, of certain player profiles and names, and obviously I am not going to divulge those this evening (Tuesday).”

PSG fought a relegation battle virtually all season, only escaping the drop on the final day when a 2-1 win away at Sochaux and other results going their way saw them finish three points above the drop.