Lionel Messi accused of being disrespectful towards Pochettino by former PSG star

Former Paris Saint-Germain winger, Jerome Rothen has slammed Argentina icon, Lionel Messi in a spectacular rant, hitting out at the striker for being "disrespectful" towards the club manager, Mauricio Pochettino.

PSG completed arguably the biggest transfer in club football history when they signed the 34-year-old from Barcelona on a free transfer earlier in the summer - though Messi has struggled to adapt to the league so far, managing to net only one goal in Ligue 1.

His attitude towards Pochettino has been called into question by Rothen, who believes that only Kylian Mbappe among the superstars show the Argentinian respect.

“Pochettino is being disrespected by Lionel Messi. The coach must be the strong man, the one who shows the real values. The only one who strongly respects him, in my opinion, is Kylian Mbappe and I do not sense anything with the other players," he said last week.

If you don't respect your coach then you cannot be successful. PSG has suffered a lot from this in recent years."

The comments by Rothen came after it emerged that Pochettino only found about Messi's COVID-19 positive test and subsequent quarantining through third parties, with it being reported that the superstar did not keep either the club or the manager updated about his situation as he isolated in his home city of Rosario in Argentina before returning to Paris last week.

Reports have also emerged that Messi's arrival at the French capital has caused divisions in the PSG camp, with the dressing room said to be divided between the South American contingent and the French players.

The 34-year-old for his part has so far made 16 appearances for PSG, scoring six goals and will be counted upon to rediscover his best form as they look to win their maiden Champions League title come the end of the season.