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8 months ago
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The 98 world champion Youri Djorkaeff was close to signing for OM on several occasions. In January 2002, Bernard Tapie asked him to go to Marseille. However, the transfer will never happen, as the “Snake” tells us in his bio written with Arnaud Ramsay.
In 2002, the winter transfer window allowed Youri Djorkaeff, then aged 33, to leave Kaiserslautern to discover the exciting English football, where he enjoyed himself with Bolton for two and a half seasons (87 matches, 21 goals). The 98 world champion with the French team had however been requested by Bernard Tapie. The emblematic president of OM from 1986 to 1994 returned to the head of OM in 2001 as head of the sports sector. The “Snake” recounts this episode in his autobiography written with the journalist Arnaud Ramsay published in 2006.
“ He was no longer the club president. He pretended to have power but only had the appearance of it. In December, he called me for the first time. – Listen Yuri, I know you want to leave Germany. I have good news: Robert Louis-Dreyfus has made arrangements with your president. You will sign for OM and join Frank Leboeuf. – Oh, are you sure? – Certainly, don’t worry. It’s okay, it’s settled. You take the first flight to Marseille and you come to sign your contract at headquarters. – But it’s impossible. I can’t leave like this. I have no letter, no proof. It’s official ? – Yes, yes, since I tell you that the two presidents have reached an agreement “.
Djorkaeff “senses the trick”
Waiting after Tapie’s call, Djorkaeff met the president of Kaiserslautern and the latter assured him that he had no contact with OM. The ex-Interist recalls Tapie, who maintains his version: “ As I hung up, the cloud of fog thickened. I don’t trust anyone anymore. I am disoriented, perplexed. I feel that Tapie is coming to terms with the truth. However, I spoke to him three times on the phone and Denis is in talks with him. My brother even went to Marseille to test the waters. In Tapie’s eyes, this transfer is just a pure formality. I don’t subscribe to it. I smell the trick “.
Despite these discussions as the end of the transfer window in France approaches, OM ultimately does not complete the arrival of Djorkaeff. The native of Lyon will never play in Marseille, having already been requested by Tapie when he revealed himself at AS Monaco before signing for PSG in 1995. His father, Jean Djorkaeff, had been captain of the Phocéens in the 60s.
A few weeks later, Djorkaeff was released by his German club to join the suburbs of Manchester. These Wanderers led by Sam Allardyce, with Bruno Ngotty, Ivan Campo, Jay-Jay Okocha and Kevin Nolan, failed in the final of the 2004 League Cup against Middlesbrough (1-2). It was during another winter transfer window, in February 2005, that Djorkaeff signed with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls), playing 45 matches (for 12 goals) until his retirement in October 2006.
