Didier Deschamps has stated it frequently over the months. He has two wishes, two priorities for the transfer market: reinforcements for the midfield and up front. Two players, not something that seems impossible, except that the current state of the transer market makes things difficult.
Even if he is well aware of it, the OM coach won’t let go of it: “I really feel that we need to strengthen the midfield and up front. Afterwards there is the economic situation which is vital. I hope that the directors will accept my choices and priorities. The can we or can’t we? I hope so as I think it is essential”.
We know that the club has been asked to diminish its salary mass (10% to 15%), we also heard that the club will have to sell before buying, to which Didier Deschamps replied “We don’t have a lot of room for maneuver in this domain. That players leave for one reason or another, ok. But, we are not obliged to sell”.
On the same subject he continues: “I decided not to double each post as I have adaptable players. Afterwards, letting go players on who I count just to bring in someone new makes no sense”.
For the President, even if it is not inevitable, the sale of players is preferable. “It’s true that if we could build up our kitty it would be a good thing. I would prefer to finance a new signing rather than having to go and ask the owners for money, despite the generosity and desire they have always shown. It would be more natural”.
Because of the presence of Margarita Louis-Dreyfus at the Vélodrome for the RLD Trophy on Sunday, the journalists asked if she was going to make things start moving.
For the OM coach, this is not the object of her visit: “It would be nice if she mentioned how much the players are attached to the club. As far as transfers are concerned, I spoke to her on the telephone and she knows what is going on. She regularly talks to the directors, everyone is aware of the situation”.
A good transfer campaign is run discreetly
In this climate where everything seems to be frozen, the coach repeats once again that “anything is possible up until the 31st of August”. In this sense, Jean-Claude Dassier stated that “if the owner did have to make an effort to help us, it would have to be reasonable as we will have to reimburse them. We have to be prudent” before reminding everyone that “there is no use talking for hours, a good transfer campaign is run discreetly”.
Announced a few weeks ago by the Press, the trail leading to Diarra was discussed on Thursday afternoon. “The problem is that his club wants to keep him” explains the OM President before stating that Bordeaux had requested that any transfer be paid up front. “Generally this type of operation financed over two or three years. As things are at the moment I can understand that Bordeaux want the fee straight away, but this makes things more complicated. In any case we don’t want to drag things out”.
The Girondins, who have sold Marouane Chamack without replacing him for the moment, seem to illustrate well the difficulties of a club which did not manage to qualify for the Champions League.
“Of course not qualifying for the Champions League is a financial catastrophe for a big club. In that case your priority is to sell rather than recruit” states the president who maintains that OM’s objectives this season are to reach the last 16 of the Champions League and to achieve a qualification for the competition in view of the following season.
The striker question
OM are also looking to strengthen their forward line, but not at any price. “Buying a top European striker like Torres at 25, 30 or 85 million euros is just not going to happen. At that price it is not a good operation for us, but there can be good opportunities which come up”.
In a market which he says is "sluggish", Jean-Claude Dassier reminds us that OM and the Ligue 1 clubs are not the only ones affected. “Today, even the rich clubs, who can present a negative budget and who don’t have a DNCG on their backs, are being being careful”, he states with Maicon’s salary discussions with Real.
On the eve of the new season which will be much more difficult with their status as champions, prudence seems to be the order of the day on a subject that a lot of people hoped would be more daring this year. Something which allows the President to conclude: "I’d like to make all the people of Marseille and all the journalists happy, but at the end of the day I have to balance the books and that requires me to be prudent”.
