Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has said he no longer cares about Paris St Germain discussing their desire to sign Lionel Messi but expressed his surprise at Olympique Lyonnais coach Rudi Garcia getting involved in the matter.
Last week, Koeman was irked by PSG’s Angel di Maria talking of his wish to play with Messi next season, accusing the French side of trying to crank up the pressure on the Catalans ahead of next week’s Champions League clash.
Lyon boss Garcia then got involved by saying it was rich of Koeman to criticise PSG for talking about the prospect of signing Messi after he had spoken openly of Barca’s pursuit of Lyon forward Memphis Depay.
“I don’t know why PSG are doing this (talking about Messi) but if they want to talk about Leo, they can,” said Koeman.
“But now the Lyon coach is getting involved, it seems like he wants to raise his profile in the media. It’s not important to me. What we have to do is prepare our match against Sevilla, then Alaves and then PSG and we’ll see what happens.”
Messi has been free to negotiate with rival clubs since last month as his contract with Barca, where he has stayed since he was 13-years-old, expires in June.
Meanwhile, Di Maria will miss next week's match at the Camp Nou with a thigh injury, coach Mauricio Pochettino has said.
“For Angel it’s over. We will communicate in a week to see where we are,” Pochettino said.
Di Maria sustained the injury during PSG’s 2-0 victory at Olympique de Marseille, which left them third in the Ligue 1 standings three points behind leaders Lille.
Pochettino added that the team would not change their style of play in the absence of Di Maria, who has had a good 2021 so far.
“We want to be competitive, even without Angel. And it doesn’t mean we have to change our style, we want to play with the same ideas,” he said.
Goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who has been out for a week with a groin injury, should be back in time for the Barca clash as PSG said he will make his return to group training on Thursday.
