Lionel Messi reportedly going over the heads of manager Christophe Galtier and sporting advisor Luis Campos for an ambassador trip to Saudi Arabia wasn’t going to sit well with the French media.
It didn’t take long for RMC Sport’s Jérôme Rothen to slam the 35-year-old for his trip and again called for Paris Saint-Germain to move on from the player, stating that the Argentine got what he wanted.
“It’s once again chilling to hear that, and it bothers me all the more given what I think of Leo Messi’s years at PSG, why he came,” Rothen said on RMC Sport.
“[It’s] just a financial matter. It was the only club capable of giving him what he wanted. The only one. Even there, he would like to come back to Barcelona, but Barcelona can’t, so he’s going out of his way to try to prolong, try to scratch the Qataris even more … But now, ciao! Goodbye! Bye bye! That’s enough.”
Rothen continued his criticism of the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner while slamming PSG’s management, noting that players on the squad don’t respect the club and do whatever they want.
“We don’t know anything. We don’t know what is being said internally, no one reacts; Luis Campos does not answer, certainly because he is in overhang, and it’s certainly the same thing for Galtier,” Rothen continued. “… It’s dramatic. When you see what PSG represents today in Paris and in France, it means that you don’t care. Lionel Messi, I don’t question his fantastic career or his talent, but his coming to PSG is a total fiasco.
“And to see that he doesn’t even have the professional conscience to say ‘good, in terms of images it is perhaps inappropriate for me to go there because I was more than useless against Lorient and we were considered to be losers throughout the match’… When the team is in agony, he is even more in agony.”
Reports suggest that contract extension talks between PSG and Messi have stalled, so it appears the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s time in the French capital could be ending.
However, FC Barcelona’s financial situation might stop them from reuniting with Messi, which is why the veteran goal scorer might push for a contract with PSG since they’ll be one of the few clubs that could afford him.
