French president Francois Hollande has suggested footballers should "gym classes for the brain," leading former Arsenal and Chelsea star Emmanuel Petit to offer to give lessons in "honesty" to the country's politicians.

Yahoo Sport published extracts of a new book entitled 'Un president ne devrait pas dire ca...' [A President shouldn't say that...'] in which Hollande -- a self-confessed football fan who welcomed the Euro 2016 runners-up to his Elysee Palace in Paris this summer -- shares his thoughts on footballers, damning their limited intellectual powers.

"They go from being badly brought up kids to rich stars without preparation. They're not prepared psychologically to know what is right and wrong," the authors of the book claim Hollande said. "The [French Football] Federation should not be organising training sessions, but classes. It's gym classes for the brain."

French president Francois Hollande is a big football fan. Photo credit should read FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images

Petit, a winner of the World Cup and European Championship with France, hit back on RMC.

"It disappoints me, but doesn't surprise me," he said. "For too long now, we athletes, the footballers, have been looked down upon with a lot of condescension by our 'dear' politicians.

"I'd give them gym classes for the brain and even probity for the political classes. Notably in intellectual honesty, in honesty full stop."

Petit added: "It would be good if those people stepped down off their pedestals and went out and met the French people. We footballers don't have all the answers. But we create wealth, unlike politicians, who live off the people's money.

"That's one thing that differentiates us: we don't steal money from people, we earn our money honestly."