Marseille (AFP)

Olympique de Marseille has decided to part with its world champion Adil Rami, ending two years of a relationship become cumbersome for a club that has not shone for its return to Ligue 1.

This dismissal is no surprise to anyone in Marseille: it has been months that the atmosphere is deteriorating around the central defender of 33 years. Since the resumption of training, as during the summer tour of the club in the United States, the player was removed from the group.

Questioned, the club did not want to comment on his dismissal, revealed by the team and confirmed Tuesday to AFP by a source close to the case. According to the sports daily, the OM invoked a "serious mistake", in a letter sent a few days ago.

This new stage seems to be in line with the disciplinary procedure launched against Rami. His employers had not let up on seeing him miss a training session and filming Fort Boyard last season.

That day, when he was supposed to be injured, he would have been involved in challenges that were incompatible with his declared state of health. At the time, the newspaper La Provence had even claimed that Rami would have lied to his coach Rudi Garcia - who has since been dismissed - about the reason for his absence.

A few days later, he had preferred to attend a fashion show in Monaco rather than support his teammates at the Vélodrome.

On 10 July, OM President Jacques-Henri Eyraud launched a sort of final warning before dismissal: "Adil Rami must question himself, but deeply, about his status, his profession as a professional football player, his rights and duties of player, moreover champion of the world ".

- Obligation to succeed -

Obviously, that was not enough. Free of any contract, Rami must now find a new club, after very contrasting performances at OM. Recruited in 2017 at Seville FC by Rudi Garcia, the French international (36 caps, 1 goal) had a promising start with Marseille, the spearhead of the team that reached the final of the Europa League in 2018.

But his 2018-2019 season was marked by injuries and poor performances. He had confided February 17 "to have had a burn-out" after the World Cup, considering not having "had enough holidays", not having "had time" to "empty his head".

In addition to his sporting difficulties, Adil Rami, who willingly relies on Instagram, has regularly made Marseille talk. Perhaps too much to OM's taste, especially when he had separated from actress Pamela Anderson and was sidelined from an association for the defense of victims of domestic violence.

If the club can hope to have turned the page Adil Rami, provided he does not dispute his dismissal, there is still much to do. The team, which moves Saturday to Nantes for the second day of L1, under pressure from the start of the Championship, is obliged to react.

Sportingly, the club has indeed missed its season launch, under the auspices of his new coach André Villas-Boas, losing Saturday against Reims (2-0), with a feverish defense.

The question of recruitment, including defensive, could return to the carpet before the end of the transfer window on September 2, and while the coach had raised before the meeting the possibility that his club does not recruit this summer. This is a new cycle that should start in Marseille.

© 2019 AFP