The former PSG player took a swipe at Lionel Messi! Extend his contract? That’s bullsh*t, says Rothen

The speculations about Lionel Messi continue and the fans keep learning new things about his staying or leaving PSG. Recently, former PSG player Jerome Rothen spoke out about the Argentine playing legend, sparing no words…

Will Messi prolong his stay at PSG or will he eventually leave? That’s still the big question at the moment, but one thing is certain. The Argentine star, who won his last coveted career trophy last December, is under contract at the French outfit until June this year.

PSG is currently in negotiations with Messi to extend the contract, as confirmed by the club’s sporting director Luis Campos.

“We are currently negotiating with Messi to extend his contract. I would like to keep him in this project, I don’t hide that. We are currently negotiating to achieve this goal and keep him with us,” Campos told Téléfoot.

But not everyone is in favour of extending his contract. In particular, former PSG player Jerome Rothen has been quite harsh on Messi. In short, according to Rothen, keeping the Rosario native at PSG is not the right move.

Rothen’s statement

“It’s a bad idea. When building a collective, it is not a problem for PSG to have one star, but several,” Rothen told RMC Sports.

“(For example) Mbappé – it should be in all PSG’s interest to extend his contract and build on him, given his age and everything he represents in France,” the former left-back thinks.

“Neymar has already extended, he has four more years on his contract. And he has expressed his satisfaction. I think because of his mental set-up and the effort he has put in, he is clearly the (soul) player of PSG, although there is still room for improvement,” Rothen is clear about Neymar.

On Messi, he then said that while it is good for the club’s image to have the best player of all time in the squad, PSG cannot stop there.

According to him, the Parisian outfit will have to rebuild something next year. And he was referring in particular to the attacking trio of Neymar – Messi – Mbappé. However, Rothen went even further in his statement when the idea of the 35-year-old Argentine staying at the club was put to him.

“Extending Messi’s contract is bullshit, just in terms of numbers. It is difficult to arrange such a trio. Then there are the wage costs. And we have seen that PSG are stuck on financial fair play,” Rothen explained.

“There you have the opportunity to get back a large amount of money because with Messi’s salary you can recruit new players and improve your team. For all that, extending Leo Messi is a very bad idea,” he added.

In conclusion, the former PSG player further stated that Messi is not making any effort to take the club forward. In his words, he doesn’t even thank the fans, he puts his head down and heads straight to the dressing room.

Messi has featured in 59 matches across all competitions in his entire tenure at the Parisian big club, scoring 26 goals and assisting 29 more.

Sources: RMC Sports, Téléfoot, Transfermarkt