Benatia slams OM dressing room: "Cunning and jealous players"

Medhi Benatia did not mince his words about Olympique de Marseille’s players. In a recent interview, the former sporting director of the Phocaean club harshly criticized the dressing room’s mentality during the 2024-2025 season, which he left in confusion.

“Today, there are no more leaders. They are cunning. Cunning and jealous. And it starts very early. I call them cursed generations. They no longer have the guts…”, said the former Moroccan international defender, definitively bitter about the past season.

Benatia points above all to a lack of character at crucial moments. “It’s fine to say: I wear the OM shirt, I walk around town, I’m somebody, I have a nice villa. But when you enter the Vélodrome, you have to step up. When there’s a 50-meter sprint to make because you lose the ball, you have to do it!”, he hammered home.

The irony does not escape him: he acknowledges that the same players now seem more committed under Roberto De Zerbi. “Now I see them, they are generous. But it was when there was the big team that you had to make the effort! They fight together, but why didn’t you do it last season?”, he questioned.

Benatia, who claims he was deceived by president Pablo Longoria about the club’s financial reality, nevertheless shares part of the responsibility for last season’s chaotic outcome. OM, which climbed from 17th to 4th place in the Ligue 1 standings between the two most recent international breaks, remains weakened by years of disorderly management. Its financial situation remains critical, and new sanctions could come in the coming weeks if the club does not make further sacrifices this winter.