The arrival of Pablo Longoria within the Marseille organization chart, as sporting director since last summer, looks like OM's best recruit since recent times.
The Spanish leader, in charge of recruitment, has been on all fronts since January 1, the launch of the winter transfer window.
This 33-year-old man, passed through Sassuolo, Juventus and Valencia did not wait until the end of the season to reduce the payroll of the Olympian club and strengthen the workforce of André Villas-Boas, in the necessary positions.
Evidenced by the arrival of Pol Lirola, the left side in the form of a loan with option to buy set at around 12 million euros.
Another satisfaction, Arkadiusz Milik, the former Napoli striker put down his suitcases in the Marseille city, a eagerly awaited recruit in Marseille as the statistics of his competitors at his post are meager.
OM very active in the transfer window
On the departures side, Pablo Longoria has managed to find a point of fall for Kevin Strootman (Genoa, on loan) and Kostas Mitroglou (contract termination, Aris Salonika) two of the most important salaries in the OM payroll.
Morgan Sanson's transfer, already gone to Aston Villa, will soon be finalized, a little less than twenty million euros will go into the coffers.
The latest transfer window at Olympique de Marseille concerns the departure of young Marley Ake to Juventus while Franco Tongya, midfielder of the Old Lady U23 will make the opposite trip, in order to sign a contract with Olympian training.
The finalization of this double transfer is expected on Tuesday.
If the keys to the Marseille sports project have been given to Pablo Longoria, this is only the beginning of a long project for the sports director.
Two executives of the current team are at the end of their contract next June, notably Jordan Amavi and Florian Thauvin.
Discussions are underway with the players' parties.
Other players risk leaving without transfer fees: Valère Germain, Christopher Rocchia, Saîf-Eddine Khaoui, Yuto Nagatomo and Yohann Pelé.
Creation of a salary cap?
This affair does not help the sporting director's business but the Spaniard sees this situation as interesting in the idea of building a squad, on a new basis.
The Team reports in its edition this Monday that Pablo Longoria wants to establish a kind of salary-cap, as in Valencia during his visit where the salaries of the players would be based on three brackets: a first category intended for the stars where the income can go up to 2.7 million euros net annually, an intermediary status between 1.2 and 1.5 million euros and finally, salaries reserved for young nuggets, valued between 600 and 800,000 euros over a season .
The full powers reserved for Longoria offer it the possibility of achieving this salary scheme, a first in France.
Read also
STATE OF EMERGENCY IN MARSEILLE
