'He should never wear the shirt again': Paris chill reflects fans' mood towards Messi

There's a chill in the air fitting for the mood Paris Saint-Germain fans hold towards superstar forward Lionel Messi, whose time left at the club can now surely be measured in weeks rather than years.

"Messi does not love PSG and PSG does not love Messi. He should never wear the shirt again."

Those are the words of Florian, a 31-year-old supporter who works in hospitality. He is by no means the only voice of dissent and is indicative of the sentiment towards Messi and the club's Qatari owners.

The thousands of ultras and supporters who greeted Messi's arrival from Barcelona almost two years ago with such unbridled optimism are now calling on him – along with club chairman and CEO Nasser Al Khelaifi – to go.

The Argentina forward's contract at Parc des Princes expires in June, the same month Messi celebrates his 36th birthday, and neither party is of a mind to execute the option of extending that association a further 12 months.

Messi issued an apology Friday to PSG fans for fulfilling a long-standing commitment to the Saudi Tourism board, of which he is a brand ambassador, by travelling to the Kingdom with his family last week but what his club has described was an unauthorised trip.

The fluffy, PR-heavy video of Messi and his family enjoying their time in Riyadh while his teammates trained at home sticks in the craw of some.

The player believed that he – along with the rest of the squad – had been given two days off following a defeat to Lorient on Sunday, April 30 only for PSG coach Christophe Galtier to order his players in for training on the Monday. He was hit with a two week suspension and fined a fortnight's wages.

"The fact he went to Saudi Arabia, when PSG is fighting for [the] Ligue 1 [title], and after we lost