Maintained in Ligue 1 after its success in the play-off against Saint-Étienne (3-1 on the return leg), OGC Nice can take a breather. But after this delivery, Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivère was keen to empty his bag regarding the Grégory Lorenzi file, made official in recent days as the new sporting director of OM.
According to the Riviera leader, the former sports director of Brest had nevertheless signed a contract with Nice, valid if the club remained in the elite. A clause only allowed him to withdraw in the event of relegation to Ligue 2. “We signed a contract with a clause which was that if we fell into Ligue 2, he had the possibility of withdrawing. The contract was signed »said Rivère in the mixed zone.
The Nice president says he understood, through the media, that Marseille had returned to the charge. A few days later, Lorenzi would have announced his decision to join the Marseille city despite his commitment to Nice: “He comes to see me at the office and says ‘president I’m sorry, it’s the first time this has happened to me but I’m going to take back my word and I’m choosing Marseille’. I told him ‘for us it’s not neutral, I’ll call you back’. »
“We will discuss with Marseille”
Without directly attacking Lorenzi, Rivère believes above all that OM could not ignore the existence of this agreement.
“Marseille knows very well that we have a contract with him. They know it. He couldn’t not tell them. Despite that, they announced everywhere that Greg Lorenzi would be the sporting director of OM”continues the manager.
However, OGC Nice does not wish to retain Lorenzi against his will. Rivère assures that he understands his choice but is now calling for a discussion with the Marseille leaders in order to resolve the matter: “When someone no longer wants to come to the club, we can understand that and we will not try to keep them. But there is a signed contract and we will have to be able to discuss. These are not practices that are done… We will discuss with Marseille. »
