Medhi Benatia admits Marseille job ‘harder than imagined’ | OneFootball

Medhi Benatia returned to Olympique de Marseille one year ago, becoming the club’s sporting director. It has been an eventful year, to say the least. His arrival came after Marcelino’s departure, which came in the wake of a fan revolt against the Spaniard and the rest of the hierarchy. Whilst some figures departed in the wake of that explosive meeting between OM’s fans and the hierarchy, Pablo Longoria remained and he played the key role in bringing Benatia to the Vélodrome.

Benatia arrived when Gennaro Gattuso was in charge of Les Phocéens but early in 2024, he was forced into another managerial change, OM’s fourth of the season, as he brought in Jean-Louis Gasset on an interim basis. Whilst he had a short-term effect, particularly in the UEFA Europa League with a run to the semi-finals of the competition, Marseille finished the season outside of the European places.

Gasset left, replaced by Roberto De Zerbi, Benatia’s second appointment. It was a busy summer for OM with 12 new signings and speaking to RMC Sport, Benatia has revealed that the job has been harder than he expected.

“It’s difficult every day. It is harder than I had imagined. There is always something happening at Marseille. Perhaps elsewhere I would get bored. Arriving at 9 am at the office, leaving at 6 pm and finishing calls with agents at 11 pm, if you don’t have that passion, it’s difficult. Since I arrived, it’s been like that,” said Benatia, who said that it is still “too early” to judge his work at the club.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle