Renard admits he wouldn't have refused Marseille and predicts Benatia's return

Hervé Renard has not closed the door on Olympique de Marseille. In an interview with journalist Ludovic Duchesne, the Ivory Coast manager admits he would have found it difficult to refuse the club when his name circulated this summer, before Bruno Genesio was ultimately chosen.

“It’s true that it’s a club I love, I’m not afraid to say it. But it’s not easy,” Renard confides. “Marseille is special. There aren’t many who could refuse Marseille. And yet, we know the context, we know that maybe we’ll get burned, maybe it will be difficult, even that it will be terrible.”

The former Morocco manager, who also coached Lille in 2015, describes Marseille with a striking metaphor: “It’s like being near a fire and putting your fingers on it. We’re told to be careful, but we don’t listen because there’s such passion, such madness that we tell ourselves that if it works, it’s something magnificent we will have experienced in our lives.” He adds that the intensity of the Marseille crowd reminds him of the African atmosphere: “In terms of passion, it resembles Africa, it resembles Africa a lot.”

Renard also spoke about Medhi Benatia, the former Marseille sporting director with whom he maintains close ties from their collaboration at Morocco. “I think his heart is Marseille. Medhi was right to go there. And I told him something when he left: he will go back there one day. Maybe not in a month, maybe not in a year, maybe not in two or three years, but he will go back one day, I’m almost certain of it.”

On Bruno Genesio, who ultimately took the reins of the club, Renard chooses solidarity over criticism. “It’s a difficult context. Sometimes I put myself in his shoes. It’s not easy with a squad that has shrunk. And yet, Bruno is someone very, very competent. So good luck to him.”