PSG: Mauricio Pochettino reacts to rumors of Kylian Mbappe's role in his firing

Though Paris Saint-Germain announced the firing of Mauricio Pochettino on July 5, his days at the Parc des Princes looked numbered for months. PSG won the Ligue 1 title last season, but the early UEFA Champions League elimination seemed to seal his fate.

The Parisians blew a 2-0 aggregate lead against Real Madrid, who pulled off a shocking comeback victory at the Santiago Bernabeu to leave Lionel Messi and company empty-handed. From then on, it only looked like a matter of time before PSG removed Pochettino.

Eventually, his lack of continental success with a star-studded team headlined by Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe proved too costly for the Argentine manager. In fact, word on the street was that hiring another coach was a condition for Mbappe to re-sign. Poch, however, refuses to believe so.

Mauricio Pochettino doesn't believe Kylian Mbappe is designing PSG's new project

"What I think is that PSG have done everything possible to keep Kylian and I agree with that," Pochettino told Sergio Levinsky of Infobae. "He is one of the best players in world soccer right now and I think that PSG, having all the resources to do so, have convinced him to stay.

"But I don't think that it was Kylian the one who designed the new project. The ones who rule, in this case the president, are the ones who may have thought that a new project was the best thing for the club."

The future of Mbappe was one of the biggest talking points in world soccer for months, as he looked set to leave PSG as a free agent to join Real Madrid this summer. The Frenchman, however, took his time to make a decision, ultimately opting for a shocking contract extension with the Parisians.

It's been whispered that, besides putting a lot of money on the table, the club would have convinced him by giving him a say in major decisions, including who would be the first team coach. Therefore, it's been reported that Mbappe had something to do with the departure of Pochettino.

However, it's always better to take those things with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, there never seemed to be a problem between them, and Pochettino himself can tell there are other people making the decisions at PSG.