Marseille reject Medhi Benatia’s resignation as Director ot Football after Roberto De Zerbi’s exit | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille Director of Football Medhi Benatia has handed in his resignation the day of Roberto De Zerbi’s exit as Les Phocéens’ head coach, RMC Sport understands. On Tuesday, the Italian manager was relieved of his duties in the aftermath of Sunday’s 5-0 thrashing against Ligue 1 arch-rivals PSG.

The outlet understands that Benatia felt that De Zerbi alone should not bear the responsability for Marseille’s current predicament, with the club also out of the Champions League after back-to-back 3-0 losses against Liverpool and Club Brugge. The former Morocco international centre-back also wished to stand in solidarity with De Zerbi and shoulder his responsability as head of Marseille’s sporting department.

The outlet adds that Marseille’s owner – American businessman Franck McCourt – and the club’s president Pablo Longoria have rejected Benatia’s resignation. The former Bayern Munich defender’s decision to resign comes as no surprise as he alluded to a departure last month. But for the time being, Benatia remains Marseille’s Director of Football.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval