Will Olympique de Marseille change dimension in a few weeks by being bought by investors with XXL financial capacities? It is the rumor that rustles on the Canebière, Friday, when the former president of the Toulon Rugby Club, Mourad Boudjellal, confirmed to embody this extremely ambitious project for the Mediterranean club, with a buyout offer made in the coming days.
Saudi Arabian investors around Franco-Tunisian businessman
The amounts mentioned give dizzy to almost all French football, Paris Saint-Germain except. There is even talk of a total check of 700 million euros to afford the hot club Marseille. It would break down into several parts, including 300 million euros for the purchase from the American owner Franck McCourt, who had spent around 50 million euros in autumn 2016.
No less than 200 million euros would be paid to pay off debts, which are actually smaller, and 200 million for the transfer window and future transfers, which is huge in these times of post-coronavirus crisis.
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Investors would come mainly from Saudi Arabia around an influential Franco-Tunisian businessman. It would be installed on site for decades and its networks would extend to the French political class.
" We are aware of the means it takes to be at the height of the monument "And it is a Provençal, Mourad Boudjellal, who would embody this vertiginous project. Joined this afternoon by Europe 1, after long hours of discussion in a Parisian palace with the main protagonists, Thursday evening, the former president of the Toulon Rugby Club confirms the reality and the ambition of this offer to buy the OM: "There are private funds, there are state funds. We are aware of the monument and the means necessary to be at the height of the monument", measures the leader.
"This project has a very strong Mediterranean connotation: it is the desire to make Marseille the French capital of the Mediterranean, a population pool of more than 500 million people," continues Mourad Boudjellal. "I think I can carry this project. It's exciting and scary but for stage one, Franck McCourt has the answer."
Radio silence on the OM side
On the OM side, for the moment, it's radio silence, nobody wants to react. Meanwhile, merchant bankers and lawyers are refining this buyout offer, which was presented to Franck McCourt early next week.
Nothing actually forces the American to sell OM. But if the amounts mentioned are the right ones, he will have a hard time refusing this offer. He started the club on the path of austerity and savings, not really what the supporters want to hear a few weeks before the big comeback of Olympique de Marseille in the Champions League.