Emmanuel Petit: “Kylian Mbappé should leave Paris Saint-Germain and Lionel Messi should’ve left”

Former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Emmanuel Petit gave an interview to Legal Sportsbook in which he discussed Paris Saint-Germain’s season, as well as the futures of Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi. The recently-appointed France captain is set to stay with the Ligue 1 leaders for at least another year, while it looks as if there is a realistic chance that the Argentine World Cup-winner could move on.

On Mbappé, Petit was asked whether he would prefer to have his compatriot of Erling Haaland in his team, as well as the France star’s future at his current club.

“Mbappé should leave PSG to win the Champions League and Ballon d’Or”

“Can I choose both? It’s a very tough choice, but I am going to pick Mbappé because I am French. Also because this guy has been a superstar since he was 17 years old. He has broken all the records in France. But if he wants to win the Champions League and become the best player in the world and win the Ballon d’Or, I think he should leave PSG.

“I think the door is still open for him at Real Madrid, although perhaps less than it was two years ago. I think Florentino Pérez said recently that if he wants to come to Madrid, he will always be welcome, but that he should think twice about his salary. The last time, he signed a three-year contract with PSG, although the last season is optional. So next season could be a turning point for him,” said the 63-times capped Frenchman.

“How can you criticise Messi?”

Petit was also firm in his belief that he would leave PSG in the summer if he were in Messi’s shoes: “I work on French radio every week and a fortnight ago we had a big debate about his situation. The former players said that they were tired of Messi and that he should leave the club. I said on the radio: ‘How can you criticise Messi? Do you think Paris Saint-Germain’s problem is Messi? Messi has just won the World Cup with Argentina. Did you see how Argentina played with Messi? He had 10 or 15 soldiers surrounding him. They helped him, he was happy and they won the World Cup’. You can see that he has had really good numbers since he came to PSG”.

“Messi is soccer”

The 1998 World Cup winner continued: “Some people in France think that the problem is Neymar and Messi. How can you say that when you look at the team and see how much money they spend on bad players in the transfer market? How can have Messi in your team if you don’t build the team around him? You can build a team with Mbappé, Messi and Neymar but if you don’t have the right players behind them... So I don’t agree.

“I feel sorry for all those people who are brave enough to criticise Messi. For me, he is soccer. When he left Barcelona, it was a very big decision for him and his family. It took him months to adapt to Paris, the city and the club. But with everything that happened during the season with the fans and the press, and what happened at the end of last season when he and Neymar were booed, they insulted his family. If I were Messi, I would have left the club immediately. ‘I am not staying. Thanks, but no thanks’”.