Facing financial crisis, OM extends young Yanis Sellami through 2029

Olympique de Marseille officially confirmed on Friday the contract extension of Yanis Sellami, a 19-year-old midfielder trained at the club, through June 2029. The announcement comes during the international break, in a particularly tense economic context for the Marseille club.

OM is indeed going through a difficult financial period: the deficit is significant and American owner Frank McCourt has decided to stop injecting equity into the club. This constraint resulted in a summer transfer window without a single signing despite several departures, an unprecedented situation that forced the management to reassess its priorities.

In this context, the club is now relying on talent from its academy to bolster its squad. Sellami, an Algerian international trained at the academy, is a direct illustration of this. “Our Algerian midfielder, from the academy, extends his contract with Olympique de Marseille until 2029,” the club stated in a brief statement posted on its social media.

Sellami’s extension is therefore less a market coup than a signal sent internally: lacking the means to recruit, OM intends to secure its young talents and build for the long term with its academy players.