Marseille announced in an official statement the departure of coach Roberto De Zerbi by mutual consent, following a decline in recent results, culminating in a 5-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Italian coach took over the reins at the southern French club in the summer of 2014, and in his first season, he successfully guided Marseille to Champions League qualification by finishing second in Ligue 1 behind Paris Saint-Germain.
This season, Marseille has clearly struggled after the coach lost the players’ support. The team suffered a painful defeat in the French Super Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain, then exited the Champions League in the league stage, and finally experienced a significant drop in Ligue 1 form, suffering the biggest defeat in the history of the French Classique.
It is worth noting that the 46-year-old coach managed Marseille in 69 matches, achieving 39 wins, 22 losses, and 8 draws.
According to French media reports, Al-Ittihad coach Sergio Conceição is the leading candidate to take over as Marseille manager, replacing Gernot De Zerbi.
The Portuguese coach was also a candidate for the Marseille job in 2024 before the club settled on De Zerbi. Now, the club’s management, led by Mehdi Benatia, believes he could be the ideal choice to lead the southern French club out of its current slump.
Conceição is under contract with Al-Ittihad until the summer of 2027, but if he accepts Marseille’s offer, he can leave by paying his release clause, which is only €4.5 million.
Saudi media outlets reported a few days ago that Conceição was angry about the events of the winter transfer window and threatened to resign if things didn’t improve. It’s worth noting that just hours earlier, he had led Al-Ittihad to a historic 7-0 victory over Al-Gharafa of Qatar in the AFC Champions League.
