Toko-Ekambi signs with Qatar club, closing door on OM winter reinforcement

Karl Toko-Ekambi will not join Olympique de Marseille. The 34-year-old Cameroonian striker has signed with Umm Salal, a Qatari second-division club, until the end of the season, according to the club’s official announcement on social media.

For several weeks, the name of the former Lyon player had circulated as a serious option to reinforce OM outside official transfer windows. The Marseille club, placed under supervision of its wage bill and transfer fees by the DNCG for the 2026-2027 season, can only recruit players out of contract. The objective is to bring the wage bill below the hundred-million-euro threshold.

The move had an emotional dimension: Toko-Ekambi had worked under Bruno Genesio’s orders during his time at Stade Rennais, in the second half of the 2022-2023 season. A relationship that could have facilitated the deal, but the player ultimately opted for geographic continuity — he was already playing in Qatar the previous season, at Al-Arabi.

OM, which had not recruited any players during the summer transfer window, finds itself in the same situation this winter. Unless another opportunity on the free-agent market presents itself before the end of the season, Bruno Genesio will have to work with the squad at his disposal.