Lorenzi settles it: Benatia has no role at OM after power handover

Grégory Lorenzi cut short speculation on Wednesday during his official presentation as sporting director of Olympique de Marseille: Medhi Benatia no longer holds any position at the club and is no longer under contract.

For several days, rumours had persisted that the former sporting director continued to influence certain matters, particularly in the transfer market. Lorenzi responded unambiguously: “I absolutely do not confirm this rumour that Medhi is still part of Olympique de Marseille. He simply made himself available to us to ensure the best possible transition. Today, he has no function or role whatsoever at the club.”

The new sporting director nonetheless acknowledged occasional collaboration during his takeover. “Medhi was sporting director in recent months and had naturally initiated certain matters. When I arrived, I took over mid-stream and we worked together to ensure a smooth handover of all these issues. It was natural that he could inform us of things that happened in the past so we had the best possible information to manage the files as effectively as possible.”

Lorenzi was presented alongside new head coach Bruno Genesio, whose appointment was also made official on Wednesday. President Stéphane Richard took the opportunity to define the philosophy of the new management. “I wanted to rely on personalities with experience, temperament, a form of discretion and the fact of speaking to the media judiciously,” he said, in remarks that sounded like an implicit criticism of the previous era.

With Genesio on the bench and Lorenzi in charge of sporting matters, OM intends to definitively turn the page on Benatia and begin what Richard called a “new cycle”.