Coach Roberto De Zerbi steps down as Olympique de Marseille boss | OneFootball

Coach Roberto De Zerbi has left Olympique de Marseille “by mutual agreement,” the French club announced on Wednesday morning, just days after a 5-0 thrashing by archrival Paris Saint-Germain.

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The 46-year-old Italian, who had been in charge since the summer of 2024, has been rumored as a possible addition to a Premier League club.

After days of speculation about his future, a club statement said: “After discussions among all those involved in the management of the club – the owner, the president, the sporting director, and the coach – it was decided to make a change in the leadership of the first team.

“This was a difficult collective decision, made after careful consideration, aiming for the best interests of the club, in order to respond to the sporting challenges at the end of the season.”

De Zerbi had led training sessions as usual on Monday and Tuesday, but a source told AFP that after a meeting between him and the board, everyone agreed to part ways. “A change in approach was necessary to ensure we achieve our goals at the end of the season, especially qualification for the Champions League,” the source said.

Success in the 2024/25 season

De Zerbi led Olympique de Marseille to second place in the league last season, behind PSG. The team had a good start this season, reaching the top of the league with a 6-2 win over PSG. Le Havre in mid-October.

At the end of November, after a 5-1 victory over Nice, the team was in second place, just two points behind PSG. But they won only three of their last eight league games and are now 12 points behind the current champions and three points behind Lyon, who hold the last direct spot for the Champions League — fourth place would mean playing a playoff to reach the group stage of the competition.

Even more damaging, however, were two consecutive 3-0 defeats — at home to Liverpool and then away to Club Brugge — which ended their Champions League campaign. Marseille lost their spot in the round of 16 on goal difference, after Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored the last goal against Real Madrid, allowing the Portuguese side to overtake them in the standings.

Rudderless team

De Zerbi himself said a few weeks ago that he had “no explanation” for his team’s inconsistency. “If I had the solution for this inconsistency, I would find it at any cost,” he said.

He arrived in the south of France after a successful two-year spell at Premier League side Brighton, where he led the team to sixth place in his first season. Before that, he coached Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. Olympique de Marseille has already had six permanent coaches in the last four years.

* With content from AFP.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.