diff --git a/guix/git.scm b/guix/git.scm
index dc2ca1be84..e2285f5f55 100644
--- a/guix/git.scm
+++ b/guix/git.scm
@@ -200,8 +200,12 @@ (define (clone* url directory)
       (clone url directory
              (make-clone-options
               #:fetch-options (make-default-fetch-options))))
-    (lambda _
-      (false-if-exception (rmdir directory)))))
+    (lambda (key subr fmt args . rest)
+      (let ((message (match args
+                       ((reason tail ...)
+                        (list (string-append reason " " directory))))))
+        (false-if-exception (rmdir directory))
+        (apply throw key subr fmt message rest)))))
 
 (define (url+commit->name url sha1)
   "Return the string \"<REPO-NAME>-<SHA1:7>\" where REPO-NAME is the name of