Officially Gone, Benatia Still Working Behind the Scenes at OM on McCourt's Request

Medhi Benatia has not really left Olympique de Marseille. Despite the official announcement of his departure on May 16, the former Morocco international continues to work behind the scenes, at the express request of owner Frank McCourt, according to L’Équipe.

Satisfied with the work accomplished during the last winter transfer window, McCourt reportedly personally asked Benatia to extend his involvement. The two men maintain very close relations, and Benatia himself sums up his presence with a succinct phrase: he acts “at Frank’s request”.

Grégory Lorenzi has indeed taken over the position of sporting director, and Benatia is no longer under contract with the club. La Commanderie nevertheless wishes to clarify that he does not engage in any agent activity, which would be contrary to regulations. “Medhi puts his network at the club’s disposal on a voluntary basis,” the club assures internally, evoking above all a desire “to ensure the transition with Grégory Lorenzi”.

Concretely, his mission consists of mobilizing his address book to generate offers and facilitate player sales. Thanks to his connections in Italy, Turkey and the Gulf countries, he remains heavily involved in several sensitive transfer files for Marseille. He is notably following the situations of Mason Greenwood, Leonardo Balerdi, Amine Gouiri and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, for whom an offer from Saudi Arabia was reportedly recently received.

Beyond the sporting side, Benatia also intervenes internally to defend certain club members with the new management. He has thus supported the professionalism of Bob Tahri, despite the internal investigation into moral harassment targeting him, defended Ali Zarrak, architect of Jean-Pierre Papin’s departure, and backed Bel-Abbès Bouaissi, head of communications.