"I'm not going to play for Nantes again. I don't feel ready to live like that," said the 87-time capped keeper who arrived at Nantes during the winter transfer window.

"I don't feel safe there and I'd just prefer to leave."

Basement side Nantes succumbed to a 2-0 home defeat to Rennes on Saturday, and after just five minutes into the match, Barthez became the target of insults from certain sections of the Nantes support.

Five supporters accosted him in the stadium car park after the game, insulting him and then attacking his car as he tried to drive away from the scene.

Barthez was forced to fight back as one of his assailants tried to pull him from the driver's seat. "It's got nothing to do with the football or the results," Barthez told France Info radio. "What happened goes beyond the sporting realm... and without that I would have stayed with Nantes until the end."

He added: "I accepted being whistled throughout a match because that's part of the game."

Barthez, 35, has been unsettled since joining Nantes in January and been accused on several occasions of feigning injury to avoid training.

In his 14 matches with the club, the former Marseille and Manchester United keeper has conceded 23 goals.