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Lionel Messi’s two-week suspension by Paris Saint-Germain marks the beginning of the end. There is surely no way back now for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner in the French capital. A line has been drawn, and relationships are expected to be severed this summer.
The events of the past week have rushed forward a conclusion that many predicted. On Monday, Messi went to Saudi Arabia. That, in itself, was not too surprising — he is an ambassador for the country, having signed a lucrative agreement to promote tourism. As The Athletic has previously reported, his Paris Saint-Germain contract enables him to agree to whatever sponsorship deals he likes.
The problem, though, is that PSG were supposed to be training on Monday.
The plan for the men’s first team this week was published after the disappointing defeat by Lorient on Sunday night, and it detailed that the squad would be in for training on Monday, with a rest day on Tuesday. Monday was a national bank holiday in France, known as Labour Day, but the dismal display at the Parc des Princes necessitated a post-mortem. Yet Messi was not there, and he had not been granted approval to travel, either.
L’Equipe first reported this development, detailing that Messi had postponed the trip twice before and his plan had been accepted when the players were due to have two days off this week. That changed, however, following the Lorient defeat, and Messi was said to have found the trip impossible to postpone.
PSG’s response was uncompromising: a two-week suspension that prevents him from attending the club’s facilities and will stop him from training and playing matches. He will miss the trip to Troyes this weekend and it is possible he could miss the visit of Ajaccio on May 13. His pay will be docked, too.
The club’s reasoning is based on their view that Messi’s decision to travel to Saudi Arabia, without approval, disrespected the institution. The suspension was a statement about club discipline and tolerance, emphasising that turning up for someone else’s promotional event on a workday would not be acceptable. Regardless of the international reaction, they wanted to make a point. Nobody was above the club.
And, fundamentally, it was the right decision.
In one sense, PSG simply had no choice. The club’s form since the turn of the year has been abject, with nine defeats in all competitions — more than double the total for the whole of 2022. Since their Champions League exit by Bayern Munich in March, their title pursuit has been a chore. As a team, they have been devoid of motivation and fight and that could not have been more clear than during the team’s limp defeat by Lorient. To allow a key player to go unpunished for missing a training session, after another embarrassing defeat, would condone this disinterested culture. It was unacceptable. It disrupts an already tense dressing room, and torpedoes any remaining authority that head coach Christophe Galtier still holds.
For PSG, as a club, such indulgence has been allowed to fester for too long and it has been their downfall. The dressing room has held too much sway in recent seasons and it has proven to be untameable for some of the game’s best managers. Galtier is just the latest in a long line to struggle with its power dynamics.
Even now, this remains a club constructed around Kylian Mbappe. PSG want the France captain to be their centrepiece, to focus on young French talent with the former Monaco star at the heart of the project. But this past season already bears his hallmark — in part, anyway. The appointment of sporting director Luis Campos and, by association, Galtier stemmed partly from Mbappe’s contract negotiation last summer. His recent public outburst on social media about a marketing video, which he disliked, only emphasised his own influence at the club.
Kylian Mbappe is the totemic figure at PSG now (Photo: Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Naturally, this week’s developments beg the question of whether Mbappe would have been treated the same way as Messi. The Argentinian is not as loved as Mbappe and he was, of course, promoting Saudi Arabia while his club — funded by Qatar, Saudi’s great regional rivals — expected him in training.
Regardless, though, the answer has to be yes, certainly if this week’s drama is to mean anything substantive for PSG. ‘No player bigger than the club’ has to mean exactly that. Should that waver, then PSG will make the same mistakes again.
The decision to suspend Messi does change the landscape. It sets a precedent. And it also means that the Messi project is over. The summer of 2021, when PSG pulled off the unthinkable and hailed the signing of the game’s greatest player, arguably of all time, seems a long, long time ago now. The 35-year-old is not unanimously popular on the terraces at the Parc des Princes, and before PSG’s defeat by Lyon last month, his name was whistled, for the second game in succession.
The supporters have disliked the uncertainty around his future, and the feeling that he has not brought the same investment and commitment that he once showed in Barcelona. After this week’s developments, it is hard to see that relationship being rebuilt and likewise, after being made an example by his club, it is difficult to see a way back to the negotiation table either. Messi’s contract expires in the summer and this feels terminal.
A future without Messi at PSG may not be the worst thing for the club. Yes, they will be losing a sensational player, but PSG have compromised to accommodate him. Galtier’s system has been designed to get the best out of Messi, sometimes at the detriment of others, such as the midfielders Vitinha and Carlos Soler. Longer term, having one fewer star player will offer the chance for more balance, and could avoid scenarios where two players do no defensive work despite their team going to 10 men — as was witnessed against Lorient.
The flip side is that Messi’s form has brought the team close to the title — he is not the problem when it comes to their on-field failures at home and in Europe. If anything, he has been a key part of why PSG still maintain a five-point gap at the top of Ligue 1. He has been decisive throughout this season, a frequent match-winner, and he has 15 goals and 15 assists to his name. If you take Messi out of the team, that influence is not easy to replace. Nor will it resolve the culture of indifference that has set in at the Camp des Loges, nor provide Galtier with a squad that has greater depth and balance.
For the good of the club, however, making a stand has to be the right step. A culture change is needed if PSG want success that supporters can get behind.
It needs to start here.
