'More than useless' - Messi slammed as Barcelona and Saudis fight over suspended PSG star

Tom Weber

• Updated: 2 May 2023 20:55 BST
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi's time in France is ending with a bang, and now a former PSG player has lambasted the World Cup winner over his excursion to Saudi Arabia.

Paris Saint-German have suspended Messi for two weeks without pay in a move that will also see the Argentine unable to train with the team after he went on an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia on Monday that caused him to miss training.

Where Messi's future lies remains uncertain with both Barcelona and Al-Hilal vying for his services, while David Beckham's Inter Miami are still quietly confident of hijacking a deal.

READ: PSG SUSPEND Messi as Argentine edges closer to Barcelona return

One thing is clear, though: this episode has all but sealed Messi's PSG exit and it will bring the curtain down on a transfer that has to be considered a failure. This sentiment has now been echoed by ex-PSG man Jerome Rothen.

What did Rothen say?

Speaking on his RMC show Rothen s'enflamme, the 45-year-old called Messi's move to PSG a 'total fiasco' and questioned the motives behind his coming to Paris: "Why he came, it was just a financial question. It was the only club capable of giving him what he wanted. The only one."

"Even now," Rothen continued, "he would like to go back to Barcelona, but Barcelona cannot [afford him], so he's going out of his way to...try to scratch the Qataris even more...But now, ciao! Goodbye! Bye bye! That's enough."

"We don't know anything. We don't know what's being said internally, nobody reacts, Luis Campos certainly doesn't respond because he's out of whack, and it's certainly the same for [Christophe] Galtier...It's dramatic."

READ: The FOUR players Barcelona will sell for Messi

"When you see what PSG represents today in Paris and in France, it means that he doesn't care about anything. Lionel Messi, I do not question his career, which has been fantastic nor his talent, but his coming to PSG has been a total fiasco."

"He doesn't even have the professional conscience to say to himself, 'well, in terms of looks it may be inappropriate for me to go there because I was more than useless against Lorient and we played like losers throughout the match'..."