Leonardo - the Paris Saint-Germain sporting director - has revealed that the French giants may have "made a mistake" when it came to the decision not to offer Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani new contracts last season.
After both spending more than seven years on the books of the Ligue 1 club, last season's Champions League runners-up opted against offering them fresh terms, allowing them to leave on free-transfers.
Neither player had any difficulty in finding a new home, with Brazilian centre-back Silva joining Chelsea and Cavani sealing a move to Manchester United at the very end of the transfer window, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looked to bolster his attacking options.
So far, Silva, who notched his first goal in Blues colours on Saturday in the 4-1 victory over Sheffield United mas made eight appearances for Chelsea, becoming a mainstay in Frank Lampard's new-look defence.
On the other hand, Cavani has made just five substitute appearances for United so far, but that is because he joined the Red Devils much later in the window and had to work on his fitness levels. However, he did open his goal-scoring account for his new club with a strike in Saturday's 3-1 win over Everton at Goodison Park.
But with both players now settling into their new surroundings, Leonardo has revealed that it could have been a "mistake" to let the duo leave at the end of last season.
“At one moment, we have to say 'what are we going to do.' We spoke clearly with them… It was a moment where we could not give them exactly what they wanted," said Leonardo, as quoted by Get French Football News.
"It was a financial and generational problem. It was the moment to count on Marquinhos and Kimpembe. The decisions were difficult to take. Aside from that, we could have made a mistake.”
Both Silva and Cavani proved to be big players for PSG over the course of an eight-year period.
Silva, who has quickly established a solid central-defensive partnership with Kurt Zouma at Stamford Bridge, made more than 300 appearances for the French outfit.
Cavani, meanwhile, played for the Ligue 1 side 301 times, scoring 200 goals, as well as claiming 43 assists.
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