Mayor of Marseille hits out at OM’s Youcef Atal link | OneFootball

The mayor of Marseille has hit out at the reports that Olympique de Marseille is close to agreeing to a deal with former OGC Nice defender Youcef Atal (28). The fullback was sold by Nice in January after he was found guilty of provoking racial hatred.

Atal has spent the past six months playing in Turkey for Adana Demirspor. However, it appears as if a move back to France may be on the cards for an individual who had previously stated that it would be “very complicated to imagine a return” to a French club. The Algerian international’s short-term contract with Demirspor has now expired, and he is free for clubs like Marseille to begin discussing personal terms.

However, this link with Marseille has not been well-received by the mayor of the city. Speaking at the microphone of Radio JM, Benoît Payan revealed that he was disappointed to hear this news, “I am not the president of Olympique de Marseille but I can tell you one thing in any case, every anti-Semitic remark, every racist remark, which has been the subject of a condemnation, or not for that matter, is not acceptable, and has no place in sport, and has no place at OM.”

Payan was also clear that he would be discussing this matter with Pablo Longoria, the president of OM, as he hopes to dissuade the club from pursuing the fullback.

GFFN | Nick Hartland