FEATURE | Marseille’s four-day descent into chaos: Rabiot, Rowe, and how it all went wrong | OneFootball

One game into the Ligue 1 season and Olympique de Marseille have already descended into a psychodrama so surreal it manages to outdo even their own reputation as Europe’s most chaotic club.

Only ten days ago Les Olympiens completed a promising friendly win over Aston Villa (3-1) at the Stade Vélodrome to the optimism and adulation of an expectant home crowd. Adrien Rabiot was talking about “a great season ahead” and the unity of the project, whilst Jonathan Rowe was paraded in pre-season as a key player for the campaign ahead. In the space of four days, that has now unraveled in dramatic fashion as the pair have been pushed towards the exit door.

At most clubs, this would be a shocking early implosion. But a casual conversation with a Marseille supporter in the streets around Vieux Port instigates a mere shrug of resignation: “That’s OM.”

What began as a tense changing room exchange has spiralled into another episode of psychodrama that has dominated this week’s headlines in France. Marseille’s 2025–26 season opener could hardly have ended in a more frustrating fashion. Despite dominating possession at Roazhon Park, OM were undone by an injury-time strike from Ludovic Blas in a 1-0 defeat.

Frustrations spilled over immediately after the final whistle. Journalists were waiting in Roazhon Park’s mixed zone, when a commotion was heard from the away dressing room and Roberto De Zerbi’s translator was heard through the walls. “The others beat us on the pitch, and we come in here and fight among ourselves. You know what that means? That we have small balls. In Marseille, we need to have big ones.”

Reports of a scuffle between Rowe and Rabiot

That anger quickly manifested into something more combustible in the press. By Saturday, it had emerged that a verbal altercation had taken place between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe.

La Provence later reported that Rowe allegedly slapped the France international after taking exception to comments about his performance. The situation reportedly descended into physical exchanges before De Zerbi, his staff, and sporting director Medhi Benatia intervened to restore order. All the while OM youth player Darryl Bakola had suffered from a faint, before the in-fighting resumed.

With journalists outside the mixed zone overhearing raised voices, the fallout was impossible to contain. Within 48 hours, both players had been excluded from first-team training.

By Monday, the crisis deepened. According to RTL, De Zerbi privately informed the club’s hierarchy that he no longer wanted Rabiot in his plans. The coach cited a “lack of commitment” compared to last season, when the 30-year-old had been one of OM’s standout performers after arriving from Juventus.

For Rabiot’s camp, this reasoning was dismissed. His mother and agent, Véronique Rabiot, revealed she was informed of his suspension on 18th August and complained of a lack of communication from OM sporting director Mehdi Benatia. By Tuesday morning, the club had made its position clear to Rabiot’s lawyer: De Zerbi, Benatia, and club president Pablo Longoria wanted him gone.

In the evening, Marseille had released a press communiqué, saying that the decision to place the pair on the club’s transfer list was taken “due to unacceptable behaviour in the dressing room after the match against Stade Rennais FC, in consultation with the coaching staff and in accordance with the club’s internal code of conduct.”

And now the mechanics of the transfer market are already coming into play, with Serie A pair AC Milan and Juventus both tracking Rabiot’s situation. Meanwhile, concrete interest for Rowe has come from another Italian side in Bologna, as well as Premier League side Sunderland.

Can Marseille survive their own drama?

Les Phocéens will now face promoted side Paris FC this Saturday at the Stade Vélodrome. De Zerbi’s side on the pitch do have the grace of only approaching their second game – but the circumstances will dominate the build-up to this weekend’s affair.

The déjà-vu feeling in Marseille is overwhelming. One match, one scuffle, one communiqué later, and the season already feels like it’s running off the rails. At most clubs, this would be a shocking early implosion – but OM is not like most clubs. The capacity for self-implosion came and went in waves last season, but this time the cycle is already becoming wearyingly familiar: optimism, turbulence, rupture, reset.

GFFN | George Boxall – Reporting from Marseille.