Jérémy Mathieu starred at Sporting, but rues missing boyhood club | OneFootball

Former French centre-back Jérémy Mathieu revealed that he had always dreamed of playing for Marseille, a club he has always greatly admired. The opportunity arose in the summer of 2017, after three seasons at Barcelona, but it ultimately did not materialise due to the decision of Andoni Zubizarreta, who was the French club’s sporting director at the time.

The former Sporting player - who was recently at Alvalade - explained that he had the approval of coach Rudi Garcia and that they shared the same agent, which made the transfer feasible: “At the time, Zubizarreta was at Marseille and Rudi Garcia was the coach. We had the same agent, so Rudi Garcia knew I wanted to leave and wanted me to come,” he told the French club’s official media.

Zubizarreta’s veto was justified by fears that Mathieu was still having problems with his Achilles tendons, which could have affected his performances throughout the season. “He didn’t want me because he thought I still had problems with my Achilles tendons, that I wouldn’t get through the season. So I went to Sporting and played more than 50 matches that season,” he recalled.

The former footballer admitted that he had always held on to the dream of playing for Marseille: “But I would really have liked to go to Marseille. I’ve been a Marseille supporter since I was little. The Papin, Waddle era... that was my era. It was a great team”, he concluded.

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