Emmanuel Petit Talks Football

Modern-day footballers only care about money and not the game, says former France midfielder Emmanuel Petit.

The 45-year-old won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with France and played for Arsenal and Chelsea.

Petit told the BBC World Football Show: "Back in the days before earning a lot of money you had to prove your value year after year. You had to win titles.

"This is the big difference with nowadays. Footballers nowadays are just focused on what they are earning."

He added: "There will always be people who don't care about the club, result, if they win a trophy or if the fans are happy."

The Frenchman started his career at Monaco and won the Premier League with Arsenal in 1997-98 before spells with Barcelona and Chelsea.

"It's not just football. Society has changed a lot. I think humanity is in danger," he said.

'Something has been broken' at Chelsea

Asked why Chelsea, currently 15th in the table, had started the Premier League season so poorly, he said it was a mental problem, not a physical one.

"They didn't lose their talent, their potential. It's in their mind, in their heart something has changed. In some way, they have lost their anger, they have lost their desire," Petit said.

He says Chelsea's problems are typified by the plight of centre-half and skipper John Terry, who was an unused substitute in the 2-0 victory over Arsenal last Saturday.

"John Terry was in the best XI of the Premier League last year, he was the captain of the champions," he added.

"Then all of sudden everything changed in the space of a few weeks. That showed me that something has been broken during that time."

Petit says he regrets leaving Arsenal for Barcelona in 2000 and also reveals he may have made another error by not swapping the Nou Camp for Manchester United.

He claims former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson called him a couple of times when he was in Spain because he knew he was unhappy at Barca.

"Maybe I should have gone to Manchester United and had a chance to play at Old Trafford with Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and co. Another mistake from myself."

Petit moved to Barca in 2000 on a four-year deal. Coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer was fired before the season ended as Barcelona finished fourth in La Liga and the Frenchman joined Chelsea just 12 months after leaving Arsenal.

"I arrived at a very bad time. There was a war in the dressing room between Dutch and Catalan players," he said.

"And on top of it we had a manger who didn't have enough strength or charisma to manage the team.

"Politics and nationalism was too much for me in the dressing room. I was so happy to join Barcelona but I just wanted to concentrate on football. Every day I was dealing with things I wasn't supposed to do. As soon as I arrived people said 'don't try to learn Castilian [Spanish], you have to speak Catalan'.

"I said 'I'm in Spain, no?' and they said 'no, you're in Catalonia'. 

I'm fed up with that kind of thing. I understand their identity but when it's too much, it's very close to racism. We're talking about football - not religion or politics. I wanted to leave. I thought I made a big mistake."

Related articles

• Arsenal Legend Petit Regrets Turning Down Sir Alex Ferguson's Man Utd
• Sir Alex Ferguson on Karel Poborsky's hair: 'He looked like he played for Led Zeppelin rather than Manchester United'
• Manchester United: Sir Alex Ferguson's regret over Paul Pogba
• Beckham, Rooney not world class players: Alex Ferguson
• Man Utd news: Sir Alex Ferguson admits hard-line approach cost United titles
• Ferguson: I only worked with four world-class players at United

Bonjour President Cantona

Eric Cantona, the former Manchester United striker, has said he wants to run in this year's presidential election in France and is trying to gather the signatures needed to do so.

The footballer, who would need the backing of 500 elected officials by the end of February to run, has sent a letter to French mayors describing himself as an "engaged citizen" and asking for their support.

"This engagement obliges me to speak, more earnestly than usual, but also with a keen sense of my responsibility, at a time when our country faces difficult choices which will be decisive for its future," said the letter.

In his letter, printed in the Liberation newspaper, Cantona denounced the limited opportunities for young people in France and social injustices which were "too numerous, too violent, too systematic", the newspaper said.

Election candidates will compete in a first round in late April, with the two biggest vote-winners going through to a decisive second round in early May.

Socialist candidate Francois Hollande is currently leading President Nicolas Sarkozy in the polls.

Even if Cantona were able to get 500 signatures, a difficult task without the backing of a party, he would have virtually no chance of reaching the second round as an individual outsider.

It is not the first time Cantona, who earned large sums as a footballer from sponsorship by brands like L'Oreal and Nike, has tried to draw public attention to social inequality.

In December 2010, he called on French savers to stage a nationwide bank run by withdrawing their money from financial institutions because of their role in triggering the global financial crisis. Panned by the media as a flop, almost no one in France heeded the call.

Cantona was convicted of assault and suspended from playing for four months in January 1995 after launching a "kung fu" kick on a spectator after being sent off. In a press conference later, he said only: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much."