OM: The truth about the Saudi takeover

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By: Manu Tournoux

OM showered with Saudi funds, just as PSG benefits from Qatari largesse, this is what makes more than one OM supporter salivate. Myth or reality? The question arises in view of the reliability of certain sources. Julien Fournier claims to have been approached by Saudi emissaries to take Frank McCourt's temperature.

In doing so, the former administrative director of the Marseille club – under the presidency of Pape Diouf – did indeed sound out the American billionaire, owner of OM since 2016. But the approach was not really successful. “ He is criticized, but he does not want to sell, which proves his attachment. Little by little, he goes back up the slope. We can't get rid of OM… But this club needs calm. The leaders work well, even if it remains fragile », whispers Julien Fournier during an interview with L'Equipe.

McCourt involved

I was planning a possible buyout », further confirms the one who recently held the position of general director of OGC Nice – with the clash that we know with Christophe Galtier. “ If one day McCourt is a salesman, if someone comes to see me because they're interested, why not. But today it's more fantasy than anything else », confided the same interlocutor some time ago on RMC.

At one point, there was someone who was interested in the club and who contacted me because he knew that I knew the environment and to find out if there was a possibility of… I'm just went to get the information, and the seller was not a seller, so there was no question of making an Ajroudi (the Franco-Tunisian businessman who in 2020 tried to buy OM, editor's note), Julien Fournier then explained. Politely, kindly but firmly, Frank McCourt told me he wanted to keep the club. »