"He was the god of Naples, he could have been that of Marseilles".
Thirty-one years later, the regrets of Jean-Pierre Bernès, then Bernard Tapie's right-hand man at OM, are still so keen.
Throughout the month of June 1989, Tapie and Michel Hidalgo, its sports director, believed that their fantasy would come true: to sign Diego Maradona, who died this Wednesday, at OM!
It all started with a confidence from an agent, Michel Basilevich, then based in Naples, to Michel Hidalgo: “Maradona wants to leave Naples where he feels a prisoner.
OM may interest him.
At first incredulous, Hidalgo understands that the pipe is not pierced.
On June 2, he left in a private plane for Naples where he met the Argentine idol who asked him, in addition to an insane salary, "a house by the sea in Cassis".
Hidalgo says yes to everything, but information about his secret meeting leaks into the media the next day.
Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino screams as the star, under contract with Napoli, will never leave.
A secret meeting between Tapie and the Argentinian star
This is not enough for Tapie to give up.
Now that he has understood that Maradona is not against arriving in the Marseille city, he is embarking on a great number of charm.
But before that he took his precautions.
He knows that the player has sultry friendships on the side of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia.
Via discreet relays, he ensures that the members of the latter are not necessarily opposed to his departure.
On June 29, Tapie slaughters his all-out.
By private plane, he goes to… Milan for a secret interview with the Argentine in a hotel located a stone's throw from the San Siro stadium.
In French, with many gestures and smiles, he plays the card of seduction in front of an amused Maradona.
The latter would like to receive two million francs (about 300,000 euros) per month?
He offers him double and describes the magnificent villa, secure, with a huge garage for his four cars, which awaits him in Cassis.
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Tapie returns to his private plane with the feeling that Maradona is on the verge of saying yes.
A few days later, he receives a phone call from Corrado Ferlaino, who explains to him that the door is permanently closed.
A genius has left us and the football world is losing one of the greatest players of all time: RIP Diego Maradona pic.twitter.com/IHtntaotsG
- Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) November 25, 2020
Three years later, however, he will try his luck again.
"I made a round trip Paris-Rio-Buenos Aires in two days accompanied by Jean Fernandez, our coach, to meet the Maradona agent," says Jean-Pierre Bernès.
We tried again because he was going to leave Naples
(Editor's note: he will finally sign a year at Sevilla FC)
.
I think the moment it all played out was three years earlier, when there were leaks and the whole town caught fire.
He wanted calm after Naples and he saw that here, it was the same passion.
"