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Former Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) player Jerome Rothen has urged the club to sell Neymar Jr. to free up their wage bill and start a rebuild.
While speaking on RMC, Rothen opined that PSG will need to break the Lionel Messi-Kylian Mbappe-Neymar triumvirate to move ahead.
"Should we break up the MNM? The priority is there. The priority is to separate at least one, speaking of Lionel Messi and Neymar because of course I'm not targeting Kylian Mbappé," Rothen said.
He then went on to talk about Neymar and how potential interest from England, specifically from Chelsea and Manchester City, could be cashed in. The former French footballer believes selling the former Barcelona winger will clear up some space on the Parisians' wage bill to kick-start another sporting project.
PSG signed Neymar for €222 million in the 2017 summer transfer window from Barcelona. Rothen realizes that they will not be able to recoup most of the fees, but even then he believes selling the player would be the correct decision.
He said:
"And then Neymar, the question arises because apparently there are discussions with other big foreign clubs who may be interested in Neymar. There are not 15,000 anyway. There are only England who could afford Neymar at the salary he has.
"I'm not even talking about the transfer because I think that PSG have also recorded the fact that they will never sell Neymar for 200 million euros, or 220 million like they bought it back then. But at least cut the price in half, and most of all save his salary because financial fair play went through that.
"If you want to rebuild something different this year next, really start again with a new sporting project, I think that PSG must part with the big salaries."
"It is not just losing one player out of the three, it is losing two" - Rothen urges PSG to sell two of Neymar, Messi and Mbappe
During the same conversation, Jerome Rothen claimed that PSG will need to sell two of their three superstar forwards to initiate a rebuild. The trio have failed to hit their pre-2022 FIFA World Cup form in 2023, which has seen them receive criticism from several quarters.
The footballer-turned-pundit also talked about Kylian Mbappe, urging the club to sell him if he doesn't want to stay for another three to four years. The France international's current deal with the club expires in 2025 but he has the option of getting it extended by another year.
On this, Rothen said:
"It is he [Mbappe] alone who will be able to trigger the option. The club has no say while sometimes the club can choose on the options. There, not at all.
"If you want to recover a part of your money, if you feel that Kylian is not going to stay at Paris Saint-Germain for three or four years, you have to sell him in June. And there it is not just losing one player out of the three, it is losing two."
The Parisians have won just seven of their 13 matches across all competitions since the conclusion of the World Cup. They exited the French Cup earlier this month and trail 1-0 against Bayern Munich after the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.
