Speaking to Nice-Matin, former Nice Sporting Director Julien Fournier has reacted to reports of an email he sent to club management last year in which he accuses then-manager Christophe Galtier, now at Paris Saint-Germain, of racist and Islamophobic comments.
The email, first reported by Romain Molina and then corroborated by RMC Sport on the After Foot show, is notably said to detail a meeting in which Galtier allegedly complains of the number of black and Muslim players in the squad, as well as conflicts that arose regarding the fasting month of Ramadan.
Fournier, who left the club last summer, has complained of the “timing” of what he sees as a leak, but does not appear to explicitly deny the existence of the email itself:
“I am in Brazil right now and far away from this controversy, to which I am associated at my expense. I am in no way at the source of the circulation of this internal information, which went back a year from the time I left the club. I would never kick anyone while they are down, despite my disagreements with Christophe Galtier, and most of all I have too much respect for OGC Nice – a club whose colours I proudly defended for ten years – as well as the people who are there, who right now are preparing for one of the biggest games in their history in Europe. The timing of these revelations outrages me as much as their content does.”
RMC report that Paris Saint-Germain have opened an internal investigation following the reports, while adding that at the time of Galtier’s hiring last year, the club was unaware of the alleged offensive remarks.
Galtier, through a statement made by his lawyer to AFP, has refuted the allegations “in the strongest terms“.
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
