EXCLUSIVE | Chris Waddle on ‘big problem’ facing Ligue 1 | OneFootball

Get French Football News once again sat down with former Olympique de Marseille winger and England international Chris Waddle to discuss the attractiveness of the league, and Marseille’s England-centric transfer window.

Ligue 1 got off to a flying start the weekend before last with victories for PSG, Marseille, and Monaco but in the UK no one was able to watch it – how damaging was it for Ligue 1 that there was no TV deal?

It was a big problem. We know that the Premier League has a lot of investment around the world. Serie A and the Bundesliga are the next two. We don’t know what the French were demanding for the TV rights. TNT [who owned the rights in the UK until the end of last season] maybe looked at the viewing figures and thought we’re not going to pay that type of money if we’re not going to get a good return on it. And this is the problem, I think French football – obviously Paris Saint-Germain are very good – is the fifth league that people would like to watch.

The strength of the league, we all know that England, Spain, Germany, and Italy are ahead of France now. And the only way that France can change that is by keeping the talent they’ve got. At the Euros, I think it was five players from the French league in the French squad. Which is not a lot. Obviously, that shows that players that are doing well at their clubs in France are soon shipped off to another country for good money.

There’s not a lot of money in French football, apart from Paris Saint-Germain. Yes, there are clubs which will pay reasonable wages i.e. Marseille, Lyon, Monaco, but after that I’ve got to say the majority of them are trying to find young players make them into players and sell them on. That’s the way French football has gone for quite a few years now.

With Mbappé leaving for Real Madrid and young talent being sold almost as soon as they emerge do you think there’s still a market for the French game outside of France?

I think if you’re a footballer you’ll still enjoy it. It’s still a good league. I don’t think it’s a poor league. I think it’s a decent league. There are other leagues now that are more favourable to the TV companies or to the general public. People like to see names and people like to see good football, but they want to see teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona.

I was at Marseille for three years. It was a massive club, and it still is, but in the last ten years – maybe even more – they haven’t really invested in a team, which made them one of the strongest sides in Europe. So they’ve been sort of been hoping that they can nick into the Champions League [and] generate money to bring new players in but it’s not been working for them.

If you look at the market now in France, Paris can still spend money if they need to. But the rest of the clubs are looking for bargains and hoping that they can keep them for one or two years and sell them on for profit.

After landing Roberto De Zerbi, Marseille signed several players from England (Højbjerg, Koné, Greenwood, and Rowe) – what’s the strategy behind this?

I think the French look at the Premier League and they pick up players who have come to their time in England. Højbjerg’s done well for Tottenham, and he’s still an international for Denmark, but there were no takers in the Premier League thinking he’s better than what we’ve got. He’s a good option for Marseille and as I say the level of the league in France is not the Premier League. He’s a player who can play in the Premier League we know that but in the French League, he would think he’d be stronger.

Greenwood, we know his history and circumstances. I think it’s a good thing for Greenwood to play abroad and to get out of the way. He did well in Spain which alerted Marseille. He’s come out of the blocks very quick. You can see him being a Marseille player. And if it goes the way it’s going, he won’t be at Marseille very long. People will be looking to double that fee probably.

There are really good players in England who are probably thinking that it hasn’t happened for them yet or they’ve reached that age where people are thinking I won’t pay that money for them. And they are good value for the French league because they’re coming out of the Premier League which is a stronger league.

Back when you played for Marseille, France was one of the strongest leagues in Europe, what would it take for the league to regain their status?

Money. Simple as. Listen some of the clubs still get massive crowds. Marseille do. Paris Saint-Germain do. Monaco have never got a crowd. They had money but they never got big crowds. Lyon were a big club. Rennes and Lille have always done well at producing players and selling them on. Lens have got a good fan base but could be a bigger club. Saint-Étienne if you could get them going, they’re a decent-sized club as well. So there’s five, six, seven, eight big clubs.

There’s a lot of French clubs that could [challenge] but unfortunately, they don’t have the owners and they have the money to go out into the market and compete against Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Barcelona, and Real Madrid – apart from PSG, they’re the only ones that could compete in that market at the minute.

You look at England and you’ve got 10 clubs spending very good money on players. Bundesliga spends money. The Spanish league spends money now, it’s not just Real Madrid and Barcelona, you look at Atlético and other teams they’re bringing players in. It’s a very competitive market out there, and for France to get back out there they have to spend the money that they unfortunately haven’t got.

Chris Waddle was speaking to Get French Football News exclusively on behalf of New Betting Offers, who have the latest football betting offers.

GFFN | Nick Hartland