00:00Mehdi Benassia, he wouldn't happen to want to mess with us just by pure chance.
00:02For those who haven't been following, yesterday Mehdi Benassia announced his resignation from his position as director on Instagram.
00:07of Olympique de Marseille football.
00:08Officially, he gives us a whole spiel about how he feels more connected to the club, etc., blah blah blah,
00:13gna, gna.
00:13However, another reason would emerge: the lack of financial guarantee, which was nevertheless
00:17promised by my short after a year of austerity.
00:19Hey Mehdi, not to us, not to us.
00:20But to understand things properly, we're going to put in a little bit of context.
00:23In November 2023, he arrived at Olympique de Marseille, becoming Pablo Longoria's advisor before, in January 2025,
00:28to become director of football at Olympique de Marseille.
00:30But even before 2025, he becomes an architect of the project; he's the one who will help Pablo Longoria build it.
00:35a squad and then a project to reach the Champions League and try to develop the club, everything
00:39simply.
00:40During the summer of 2024, the Longoria-Benassia duo will succeed in attracting Roberto Dezerbi, and I say succeed in
00:45to the extent that, remember, at the time, he was one of the most hyped coaches in football.
00:49We had seen his Sassuolo, we had seen his Brighton, etc. Quite a few things that were promising, it had
00:54People are quite hyped, and so, seeing him at Olympique de Marseille to build a project,
00:57It was still quite mouthwatering.
00:58And in the transfer market, it wasn't just a bunch of nobodies who arrived, you know.
01:01Mason Greenwood, Adrien Rabiot, Hojberg and a whole host of other players who would never have come to Olympique de
01:06Marseille a few years earlier.
01:07Olympique de Marseille is changing dimensions, qualifying for the Champions League, and will therefore inevitably have more revenue.
01:12However, internally, I was told, Benassia, it was explained that we had to wait a little while before
01:16to spend, etc.
01:17Because it was necessary to fill certain gaps, and all that.
01:19And it would only be the following year that my short daughter had quite a bit to invest in order to be able to make a
01:23Ambitious transfer window.
01:24And then I was told that Benassia had left the club, that this promise hadn't been kept.
01:26was held.
01:27But I disagree with that.
01:28We are told that Benassia had to take out multiple loans, purchase options, etc.
01:32In short, all sorts of complex financial arrangements here and there to get the budget approved...
01:37'Olympique de Marseille.
01:37But it's my short game's fault that every 6 months there are 10 players who
01:40those who leave and those who arrive,
01:41You can criticize my short time and I think he should leave Olympique de
01:44Marseille
01:45Or maybe get more involved in the club, being in France, I don't know.
01:48But in this case, what Longoria, Benassia and company are doing with money, we can't blame them for.
01:52Because if that's really an argument for Mehdi Benassia's departure, I'm sorry.
01:55Hearing this, I get the impression that Olympique de Marseille has the squad of a 12th-placed team in Ligue 1.
01:582,
01:59that Olympique de Marseille only had a budget of 3 million, yet it still took tens
02:02millions of euros on certain players,
02:03For me, financially, I don't see what more I could ask for.
02:06You only have to look at Olympique Lyonnais' recent transfer windows to see that with much, much less...
02:10'money,
02:10This season, these guys are ranked higher than OM in Ligue 1.
02:13So yes, OM has the Champions League, OL has only played in the Europa League, admittedly,
02:16But for a team that was predicted to be relegated to Ligue 2, well, these guys are in the Europa League, they were
02:19exceptional.
02:20So, to present the alleged lack of financial resources at Olympique de Marseille as a poor, sole reason for
02:24His departure, that's for others.
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