OM: sports advisor, recruitment, sales… what role for Medhi Benatia in Marseille?

Medhi Benatia in Marseille, the saga has been going on since mid-October and is not yet completely resolved. Arriving Wednesday afternoon in the Marseille city, where he was trained and still has family ties, the former Moroccan international (36 years old) will soon take on the role of sports advisor to President Pablo Longoria. A role similar to that of Luis Campos with Nasser Al-Khelaïfi at PSG, with one difference: the former Bayern and Juventus player will work exclusively for OM when the Portuguese is also active with Celta Vigo.

A time agent and representative of Azzedine Ounahi, Benatia will not be an employee of the club but will work as an external service provider. The recent end of his player advisory activities forces him to wait a year to work under contract in a club and contrary to what has been written, everything is not yet in place with OM. The two parties still have to resolve legal details which could take several days and a formalization is not expected before next week. See more.

An active role in player exits

In Marseille, Medhi Benatia comes to take over from Javier Ribalta who resigned from his position as director of football on October 11. This Thursday, he was able to visit the Commanderie and take a first-hand look at the projects awaiting him with Pablo Longoria and he should be on the Olympian’s trip to Strasbourg on Saturday.

Alongside Pablo Longoria, he will have prerogatives over the recruitment of professionals and young people but also over sales. An area in which OM has not performed very well in recent years. The current 10th in Ligue 1 intends to take advantage of the international network of the Franco-Moroccan who had the opportunity to play for Bayern Munich, Roma, Juventus, Qatar and Turkey.

In addition to recruitment, Benatia should work on the reorganization of the recruitment unit, somewhat emptied with the departures of Mathieu Louis-Jean in the heart of the summer to join Lyon, of David Friio (who will also join the OL as sports director) but also Mathieu Seckinger and Thomas Maurin last May.