OM supporters have learned important news concerning their club and the vacant position of sports director.
OM will soon have a new sports director. And in all likelihood, it will be the Moroccan Mehdi Benatia. He would replace David Friio in this role, while the position of director of football, vacant since the departure of Javier Ribalta, will become vacant.
Benatia will work with Tressier
Benatia has an agent license and this is what delayed his appointment to this position, since he cannot occupy both roles. Rumors suggested that this would derail his arrival. But it turns out that Pablo Longoria is about to overcome this constraint. Unless there is a surprise, the ex-defender should therefore settle in well in the Marseille city.
Benatia will be in charge of the sporting field at OM. He will notably take care of recruitment. He will have to work in concert with Stéphane Tressier, the administrative and financial director. The latter is credited with the ambition to replace Pablo Longoria in the future.
Maldini will not come
Maldini’s name had also been mentioned in the media for arriving in Marseille. Obviously, there was nothing serious with the Italian football legend. His limited knowledge of French football may have worked against him.
If Pablo Longoria is ready to offer his chance to Benatia it is also because he knows him very well. Both men were at Juventus at the same time. They like each other and their future collaboration, if it does not come naturally, responds to a certain logic. The tandem has a good chance of working.
Benatia is a pure product of OM. However, at the professional level, he failed to break through with the Phocaeans. After finishing his training, he had to join the lower tier teams (Tours and Lorient) before trying his luck abroad. There is a taste of unfinished business and by taking over the position of sporting director, he could possibly remedy this lack.
