PSG chief Al-Khelaifi criticises Messi for lacking ‘respect’

Paris Saint Germain chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi criticized Lionel Messi for lacking respect for the club after his departure to Major League Soccer, Inter Miami. Messi won the FIFA World Cup 2022 when he was still with PSG but he claimed that he didn’t receive the respect from his club.

Messi had a great run in FIFA World Cup 2022, scoring seven goals and providing three assists to bag the Player of the Tournament award. He also scored a goal and provided an assist in the all-important semi-final against Croatia. Messi then scored a brace against France in the final and took his team to glory.

“He’s not a bad guy but I don’t like it,” Al-Khelaifi told RMC Sport. “I’ll say, not just for him but for everyone, we talk when we’re there, not when we’re gone. That’s not our style… I have great respect for him [Messi] but if someone wants to speak badly about Paris Saint-Germain afterwards, that’s not good. That’s not respect.”

Al-Khelaifi admitted they could not give Messi a grand welcome as Argentina won by beating France in the final.

“If anyone talks about the fact that we didn’t celebrate him enough after he won the World Cup, we’re in France and he won against [France and PSG star] Kylian [Mbappé],” Al-Khelaifi said.

“We are a French club. I don’t want the whole stadium to be against him either.”

Al-Khelaifi feels the Argentine striker found it difficult to adjust to Paris after spending a long time at Barcelona.

“I’m going to say one thing about Messi, the best player in the world and the best player in history,” Al-Khelaifi said. “It was not easy for him to come here… After Barcelona. There [in Barcelona], everything was for Messi: the players, the coaches, and the management. He comes here and it’s not the same thing, we also have other players, we have Kylian and also Neymar.”

Al-Khelaifi also revealed that Gabriel Moscardo’s transfer to PSG is on standby.

”He’s a fantastic player,” Al-Khelaïfi said of Moscardo. “We really believe in him and his potential. He is injured and needs an operation, so we have to take care of that too. We are in a slightly uncomfortable situation with him because we cannot run the risk of taking an injured player. We have to wait. This is the situation currently.”