The OM president returns to the sidelining of Adrien Rabiot, referring to an "event of extreme violence"

Pablo Longoria has broken his silence. In an interview with Agence France-Presse on Wednesday, August 20, the president of Olympique de Marseille (OM) addressed the decision, announced the previous evening, to place French international Adrien Rabiot and English striker Jonathan Rowe on the club's transfer list.

In its statement on Tuesday, the Marseille team mentioned the "unacceptable behavior" of the two players in the locker room, after OM's defeat at Rennes (1-0), at the opening of the French championship season, on August 15. "What happened on Friday was an event of extreme gravity and violence, something unheard of," said Mr. Longoria. An incident, he said, " which exceeded the acceptable limits in a football club, as in any organization."

The Spanish manager did not witness the incident; it was told to him by "the OM staff, both sporting and non-sporting." He did not go into details of the altercation. Pablo Longoria made the decision to pave the way for the departures of Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe in concert with Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi and the team's football director, Medhi Benatia. "I think the three of us have enough experience to say that we have never seen anything like this in a locker room," insisted the Marseille president, who pointed out that the three men have been playing in top-level football for over a decade.

Jonathan Rowe, 22, was expected to leave the club in the off-season anyway. The decision to deprive himself of Adrien Rabiot, 30, a key player in the French national team (53 caps) and author of a very good first year at OM (9 goals and 4 assists in 29 Ligue 1 matches), is, however, a huge surprise. But, the manager assures that he aims to "protect the institution" and "the season" , while Marseille will be competing in the Champions League.

"There is a before and we must not only analyze this event. And it is not about finding someone to blame, it is a collective and institutional question," he developed, alluding to several reminders to order, before the match against Rennes, "because there were many situations that we did not like." "Do you think that I, president of Olympique de Marseille, am happy to arrive at this type of situation with one of the most successful players of last season and that I presented as an example?" , underlines Pablo Longoria. Honestly, as a club, we are suffering the situation."

He finally dismissed rumors that the decision to place Adrien Rabiot on the transfer list was linked to a desire to make a financial transaction – the player's contract expires in the summer of 2026. "Last season, before the end of the championship, we offered him an extension, with an increase in his salary (...) We had a first meeting, then there was a second, which could not take place because his representative told us that it was too hot , affirms Pablo Longoria. If we wanted to change, it would have been easier to do it in June. I told him that if he was not convinced, he should not stay. And he decided to stay. And if he was not happy, he could leave in June with a figure decided in a gentleman's agreement ."