“I’m wasting my time talking to you. You will lose wherever you go” – The relationship between PSG’s Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Lyon’s John Textor is reaching breaking point

PSG hosts Lyon at the Parc des Princes this evening in a mouth-watering showdown between the league leaders and Ligue 1’s most in-form team. Les Gones have won their last four games in all competitions, including a thrilling 3-2 home win against Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. Should they inflict Les Parisiens With their first defeat in Ligue 1, Lyon would reduce the gap to the leaders to just six points. It would also be an intriguing new twist in the rift between PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Olympique Lyonnais John Textor.

As we say in France, Al-Khelaifi and Textor have no plans to spend their holidays together, as the two executives do not see eye to eye on many matters, such as PSG’s search for Lyon’s Rayan Cherki and, above all, the league’s domestic television Rights tender process, which arguably proved disastrous for Ligue 1 clubs. Last month, the Eagle Football boss lamented the fact that Lyon had many enemies, including “a big club in Qatar”.

L’Equipe reported this Sunday that Textor and Al-Khelaifi exchanged icy text messages over the summer, signaling an abrupt deterioration in their once warm relationship. On July 12, Textor reportedly asked his Qatari counterpart to speak to him about the TV rights and mentioned that he would be kept updated through Lyon CEO Laurent Prud’homme. Al-Khelaifi reportedly replied to Textor: “You should know that your husband knows nothing about television rights. I wish you a nice day.“

Textor doesn’t miss this and laments Al-Khelaifi’s power and influence over the League. “You didn’t call me to ask my opinion, you called me to tell me what I should think.” After a series of caustic text messages, Al-Khelaifi tells Textor that he has no intention of speaking to him or even seeing him again. ““Learn how to run a club and media, this is the last time I let you talk to me,” the PSG president reportedly told Textor. The American businessman replied that he was happy with that, before addressing Al-Khelaifi personally: “You always say you’re saving everyone, which is just megalomaniacal behavior.”

Textor’s comment appears to have resonated with Al-Khelaifi, who ended the exchange with the following message: “You don’t know anything about football and I’m wasting my time talking to you. You will lose wherever you go.”

GFFN | Bastien Cheval