PSG Told They Were 'Better Off' Without Lionel Messi And Are Now A Weaker Team

Michael Owen has claimed Paris Saint-Germain are now a weaker team after signing Lionel Messi.

The six-time Ballon d'Or winner made his first start for PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday night in their 1-1 draw with Club Brugge.

Messi lined up alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in attack, but none of the trio managed to have an impact.

Owen told BT Sport that he isn't convinced PSG are frontrunners for the competition despite their strength up top.

He said: "As much as we drool over them, this PSG team with those forwards, they're all phenomenal players in their own right.

"But three together makes it weaker for me and I don't really understand why they're one of the favourites for it (the Champions League). I think the English teams (Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United) are far, far superior."

Messi isn't the only big name to arrive in Paris this summer.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos and Gini Wijnaldum also arrived as free agents, while Achraf Hakimi was a £50 million purchase from Inter Milan.

Owen continued: "I almost feel as though the signing of the likes of Donnarumma and Sergio Ramos gives them more of a chance of winning it (the Champions League) than the signing of someone like Messi."

Rio Ferdinand addressed the forward line, collectively dubbed 'MNM' by the media, highlighting what it'll take for them to click.

"We've seen it from PSG," Ferdinand replied. 'There have been too many occasions when they haven't worked hard enough. We watched them at Anfield, they were walking about. That's the problem.

"I just believe that Messi coming here, Mbappe will be saying 'I've got to show Messi what I'm about'. Neymar when he played at Barcelona with Messi, was a phenomenal runner off the ball.

"You'd like to think that can come back into their games.

"If it does, it's going to be difficult for everybody else. That's a big if."

PSG are in Group A alongside Manchester City and Pep Guardiola's side currently top the group.

They ran out dominant 6-3 winners against RB Leipzig.

City and PSG will clash in one of the group stage's biggest games on September 28.

Do you agree with Owen's comments? Are PSG weaker as a whole with Lionel Messi?