Football Season Guide

Finishing fifth in Ligue 1 last season was a disappointment for Marseille, whose ‘Champions Project’ appears to be floundering. OM endured a difficult campaign last time out and, though they have appointed Andre Villas-Boas as head coach this summer, they have made painfully slow progress in the transfer window and appear to be worse off than they were when they finished the season in May. At the time of writing, Marseille had only managed to complete the signing of one player – Alvaro Gonzalez on a loan deal from Villarreal. While the defence is an area that desperately needs work, he will be a like-for-like replacement for Adil Rami, who is in dispute with the club that is seemingly unfixable. As such, even this weak area of their team has not been adequately bolstered. Elsewhere, Marseille have suffered only problems. These are most evident in attack. Last term they were hopelessly short of an option at centre forward until Mario Balotelli joined in January. He has departed the club after a successful short stint, while Lucas Ocampos, who was their other most effective forward player in the second half of the campaign, has been sold to Sevilla for a relatively small €15m fee. Further eating away at an offensive line that is short on numbers is the sale of Clinton N’Jie, although he had stagnated and this is probably to the benefit of the club. Dario Benedetti is expected to arrive from Boca Juniors, but it is a lot to expect for him to hit the ground running – and he will need to. Florian Thauvin and Dmitri Payet have both been retained, despite rumours of transfers, yet neither finished last season well and Marseille desperately need more from both if they are to succeed this term. In midfield, too, they look short on quality and quantity. OM tried unsuccessfully to offload Kevin Strootman, who is now something of a millstone, with Maxime Lopez and Morgan Sanson set to be key along with Luiz Gustavo, who was below his best last term. Indeed, Marseille need much more from all their players, who spent last season playing below par. Friendly results have been thoroughly mixed, from a 4-0 loss to Rangers and a 2-1 loss to Accrington Stanley, to a stunning 8-1 win over DC United.