‘Tasty exchanges’ between Unai Emery and player, Arsenal boss told him he’s no Messi

Arsenal are in France on Thursday for the first leg of their Europa League match against Rennes.

For Unai Emery it’s a chance to return to the country having managed PSG before being shown the door. Whilst the Spaniard was at the Ligue 1 side he had a difficult relationship with Hatem Ben Arfa, who is now at Rennes, and that’s explained by Thursday’s edition of L’Equipe.

Moving to PSG on a free transfer, Ben Arfa hadn’t been the choice of Emery, although L’Equipe state the manager wasn’t completely against the signing initially.

The two men then started off their relationship poorly and things got worse from there, with there being ‘tasty exchanges’. Emery didn’t pick Ben Arfa often, and he ended up being ostracised at the training ground.

Emery is said to have been irritated by the French media coverage of his relationship with Ben Arfa, and annoyed that the dressing room seemed to be backing the player.

L’Equipe say that on one occasion, the now Arsenal boss told Ben Arfa he’s no Lionel Messi, and has to realise he can’t win matches on his own.

At a later date, the player then responded by telling Emery his Sevilla success was down to Monchi and he’d never succeed in the Champions League with PSG.

A nice edge to the Arsenal match.