Expected this Wednesday in Marseille, Mehdi Benatia could soon sign for OM, but not as sports director.
Announced several weeks ago, Mehdi Benatia’s arrival at OM is becoming clearer. According to Foot Mercato, it would even be imminent since the former defender is expected this Wednesday at the Robert-Louis-Dreyfus training center. For the moment, no signing would be planned between the management of the Marseille club and the former Moroccan international (36 years old), who would have simply planned to carry out an inventory of the team with Pablo Longoria.
The opportunity for those who completed their training with Ciel et Blanc, from 2003 to 2006, to visit the facilities and attend the match between Strasbourg and Marseille, Saturday evening (9 p.m.), on the occasion of the 13e day of Ligue 1. “He is still sorting out legal details to validate his arrivalindicates on X the journalist Sébastien Denis. However, he would come as a sports advisor and not as a sports director. »
Ménès criticizes the Benatia choice
What would then be its scope of action? Difficult to say, but his network could be useful for Olympian leaders. During his playing career, Mehdi Benatia actually played in major European clubs such as AS Roma, Bayern Munich and Juventus Turin. Not enough to seduce Pierre Ménès: “It amazes me a little! We already have Papin, who is not an employee of the club but who is there at all the matches. »
“Benatia will not be an employee of the club and will make sporting decisions… It’s strange, these hybrid functions at OM, where we have people who make decisions without really being at the clubasks the journalist on YouTube. Either Medhi Benatia is the man for the job and we take him as sports director, or he is not and we do not take him, but that seems to me to be an extremely absurd decision. »
