In the spring of 1989, when Bernard Tapie had been president of Olympique de Marseille for three years, his ambition was to make the Marseille club one of the biggest in Europe. To do so, he even had the firm intention of bringing in the best player in the world: Diego Maradona. “It's simple, we were looking for THE player who would take OM to a level. And at that time, The player is Maradona ", told Bernard Tapie to So Foot a few years ago.
And it was Marseille manager Michel Hidalgo, who died Thursday at the age of 87, who had been in charge of the case. The former coach of the France team therefore went to Naples where the Argentine star was playing. He spent the day in the villa of the leader of the Albiceleste, accompanied by his agent Michel Basilevitch. In the mid-2000s, Michel Hidalgo had told this episode to the Parisian : "He came every quarter of an hour to ask me: Are you going to Mister Hidalgo? See you soon. The plane was to bring me back at 7 p.m. and a meeting had still not been decided. We had the return shift for dinner with one of his friends. ”
In favor of the OM proposal
According to the manager of Olympique de Marseille, Maradona told him that he was interested in the proposal from the Marseille club. “I left with a man who thought he was coming. He was very good there (in Naples, note) with his four cars. But it had nothing to do with what he could have had in Marseille. We could offer him whatever he wanted. He had already asked me if he could have a house by the sea, in Cassis, with palm trees. He had learned about everything, ” Hidalgo remembered.
But the case was unsuccessful due to a media leak, according to Bernard Tapie. Some believe that it was Marco Franchi, one of Maradona's agents, who slowed down the negotiations. Olympique de Marseille finally chose to recruit Englishman Chris Waddle.
Read also
- Michel Platini and France du football pay tribute to Michel Hidalgo