Genesio relieved after keeping Paixao, who nearly signed for Sunderland

Bruno Genesio confirmed on Friday that keeping Igor Paixao at Olympique de Marseille had been the hottest issue of this summer transfer window, with the Brazilian winger coming close to leaving for Sunderland before ultimately staying in the southern French city.

“He was one of the very important players I wanted to keep,” the OM manager told the media. “There were others, but with him it was very tense right until the end. What matters is talent. You need it to get results. It was important to keep a player like Igor.”

Genesio, who according to several sources had threatened to quit his post if the Marseille number 14 departed, made no attempt to hide his relief following a transfer window he describes as “very long and difficult.” “We managed to hold firm at the end of this market to keep important players and have a squad that makes sense for what we need at OM,” he added.

OM signed no established players this summer, a reality the former Lille manager acknowledges openly. “We would have liked to have a squad bolstered with confirmed Ligue 1 players. The situation is such that it wasn’t possible, we were aware of that.” He tempers this, however: “Ultimately, it’s less bad than what I feared ten days ago.”

Given the thinness of the attacking squad — limited to three strikers plus Faris Moumbagna and Neal Maupay — Genesio is banking on young players to carry the season. “The young players will have a very important role to play because we won’t be able to go the whole season with just our three strikers. We’ll need to get 100% out of this squad, develop the young players, the players who wanted to leave, or those we pushed to leave and who stayed.”