Nasser Al-Khelaifi on Lionel Messi’s spell at Paris Saint-Germain: ‘Not a bad guy’ but lacks respect

Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi reflected on the club’s complicated relationship with former player Lionel Messi in an interview on Tuesday, admitting that he felt that the player disrespected the club after he left.

Al-Khelaifi was asked to address comments that Messi made in September, when he said he wished the club would have honored him after he won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina. The PSG president said he did not approve of the player’s public comments in the months after his departure.

“He’s not a bad guy, but I don’t like it,” Al-Khelaifi said, per ESPN. “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 but if someone wants to speak badly about Paris Saint-Germain afterwards, that’s not good. That’s not respect.”

The president then explained why the club did not pay him tribute after the victory in Qatar. Messi scored twice in the 2022 World Cup final, in which Argentina beat France on penalties after a 3-3 draw, and Al-Khelaifi claims the Parisian crowd would not have been receptive to such a celebration.

“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 Kylian [Mbappé],” he said. “We are a French club. I don’t want the whole stadium to be against him either.”

Al-Khelaifi also ultimately admitted that Messi’s time in the French capital was a difficult one for the player, especially considering the circumstances in which he moved. The player’s wage bill and Barcelona’s worsening financial situation meant he was forced to leave in 2021, and the PSG president feels the contrasts between the two clubs was stark for Messi.

“I’m going to say one thing about Messi, the best player in the world and the best player in history,” he 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’s comments came in a wide-ranging interview that predominantly addressed the ongoing speculation around Mbappe’s future. The France star’s contract with PSG expires in June and Real Madrid and Liverpool are reportedly amongst those chasing his signature, but the PSG president insisted that they want to keep Mbappe around.

Messi spent two seasons with PSG and won Ligue 1 on both occasions, but the move always felt like a bad fit and so the player left when his contract expired last June. He subsequently moved to MLS’ Inter Miami.