Rebellion, ritiros & Waddle – ‘Ultra’ De Zerbi’s year at Marseille
Roberto de Zerbi was appointed Marseille boss in June last year
George Boxall
BBC Sport in Marseille
“When I was aged 13-14, in the AC Milan youth academy, my coach told me to start following Marseille and Chris Waddle,” Roberto de Zerbi discreetly disclosed after the French side’s final game of the season.
“That’s when I fell in love with Marseille. I started following the club because of Waddle.” The England winger would win three Ligue 1 titles with Les Phoceens and help them reach the 1991 European Cup final.
De Zerbi’s revelation followed a season full of lively – and at times fiery – news conferences at the Velodrome and the La Commanderie training ground. The Italian found in France’s oldest city something that mirrored his past and his own temperament.
“The city of Marseille and the club of Marseille are similar to me in a way. I was looking for an environment that could make me dream,” said the former Brighton boss in early February.
De Zerbi is a natural fit for the heat at Olympique de Marseille. His football demands conviction, and so does the city. As local poet Jean-Claude Izzo once wrote: “Here, you have to take sides. Be passionate. Be for, be against. Just be, intensely.”
At the end of the season the Italian was caught up in jubilant celebrations, waving a flare with supporters that had greeted the Marseille squad at 4am at Provence Airport. “I was born an ultra,” De Zerbi exclaimed to DAZN only weeks before.
It was not a title win – but finishing second in Ligue 1 and qualifying for the Champions League felt nonetheless dramatic.
The appointment of the passionate Italian was viewed as an “impossible dream” by club president Pablo Longoria when he made a call last summer after De Zerbi departed Brighton.
That dream teetered on the edge of chaos several times this season, testing the tactical and emotional limits of one of the most promising coaches of the past decade.
‘The Port of Exiles’ – OM’s summer overhaul
Mason Greenwood scored 21 goals for Marseille in Ligue 1 this season
“Marseille has always been the port of exiles… Here, anyone who arrives one day at the port is inevitably at home,” Izzo also wrote about Marseille.
After an eighth-placed finish last season, the club kicked off a radical overhaul – welcoming an eclectic collection of misfits and experienced players attracted by De Zerbi’s new project. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Neal Maupay and Adrien Rabiot all arrived citing De Zerbi as a factor.
English pair Jonathan Rowe and Mason Greenwood joined the Anglophone contingent at the club along with Canada international Derek Cornelius.
“The big difference was Roberto de Zerbi calling me out of the blue. I was a bit taken aback by it because it’s the first time a manager has gone out of his way to call me and say he wants me,” former Norwich winger Rowe told BBC Sport.
“The coach has been a bit more intricate with the details: your body shape, how you go into games, how you think and stay focused in a game. There’s a lot of information to take in.”
“He’s very demanding, one of the best coaches in the world. He’s one of the reasons why I came here,” added Greenwood before the final game of the season. “We have a great relationship and he puts me in the best position so that I can express myself.
“We’ve also had to learn when to be patient, when to play a bit quicker when we have a lot of the ball and break down defences. So he’s taught me a lot about how to play my game.”
Greenwood joined the club from Manchester United last summer in a deal worth up to 31.6m euros (26.6m). Serious charges against him, including attempted rape and assault, were dropped in February 2023.
“We took the decision internally. OK, there was some opposition, that was objective,” said Marseille club president Longoria in September. “But at the same time that gave us power to maybe not investigate, because I’m not a judge, but to use all the information to make the best decision, which I think we did.”
Greenwood scored twice on his Ligue 1 debut in a 5-1 win over Brest and went on to finish with 21 goals, breaking the record of the most goals in a debut season for a Marseille player in the 21st century, ahead of Bafetimbi Gomis (20) and Didier Drogba (19).
His goals won 16 additional points for the club – the highest of any player in Ligue 1 this season, according to Opta.
Marseille’s ability for attacking explosivity on the pitch under De Zerbi was abundant from the start of the season. Les Olympiens broke several goalscoring and possession records, scoring 74 goals in 34 games this season, with only an all-conquering Paris St-Germain side netting more in Ligue 1.
Reports of mutiny & a Roman rebirth
Marseille finished 19 points behind Treble-winners PSG
Yet after a run of five losses in seven games, the season would take a turn for the surreal. Following defeat by Reims in March, a report from French newspaper L’Equipe alluded to tensions arising between De Zerbi and his players – going as far to suggest a ‘mutiny’ had taken place.
De Zerbi hit back: “Some people made me out to be a criminal. It’s not fair. I’m a good person. My mum called me this morning and asked: ‘What did you do?'”
“There is no rift between us,” claimed former Brentford and Brighton striker Maupay during the same news conference. “He is so passionate and committed… In families or couples, you have to be able to talk things through.”
After concerns around the team environment, De Zerbi – along with Longoria and sporting director Medhi Benatia – made the collective decision to take the squad on a training retreat to Rome.
OM had been on a team bonding camp following a defeat earlier in the season by Auxerre, but this ‘ritiro’ – often a practice for Serie A teams – involved the team’s 50-man sporting operation moving to the outskirts of the Italian capital late in the season.
“We’ve thought with the club about doing everything we can to reach our objective,” said De Zerbi. “It’s not a punishment – it’s simply to help the team reconnect. The players agreed. It won’t change their lives, but it could change their careers.”
As the world turned its eyes to Rome following the death of Pope Francis, Marseille found a kind of rebirth of their own in the Eternal City. De Zerbi visited the Vatican with club representatives to pay his respects – before focus switched back to Champions League qualification.
Ping-pong, rooftop barbecues and work on the training pitch, away from the prying eyes of La Commanderie, ended up being what was needed to make the difference in the final games of the season.
“I had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday there – I had never been to Italy before,” smiled Rowe. “We really managed to create better cohesion and become more united.”
Sixteen goals in the final five games of the season earned big wins over Brest and Montpellier, with a victory at Le Havre sparking scenes of celebration. A release of tension as De Zerbi, his players and staff all flooded the away section.
“I believe this is more than a miracle,” the Italian said afterwards.
“We spent time together, had dinner together. We trained less, but we worked a lot on unity and it showed on the pitch; it’s a family.
“It’s not true that the players were against me; that hurt me. There was never any mutiny.”
Chris Waddle won three league titles with Marseille and was a beaten European Cup finalist in 1991 – Marseille won it for the first, and only, time two years later
‘I love conflict, I love controversy’
The first act of the De Zerbi story at Marseille has proved to be a whirlwind that has reached a satisfactory conclusion for all parties: Champions League qualification.
“I love conflict, I love controversy. I think it’s part of football and part of this club’s DNA. You can’t change that,” said Longoria at his end-of-season news conference.
“With Roberto, we started a cycle that we set out in a three-year contract. I think we’re in a good place.
“We want to find continuity, let the adrenaline that is associated with this club die down.”
After a summit held in the US, Marseille confirmed the commitment between Longoria, De Zerbi, Benatia and American owner Frank McCourt to continue working together.
And so there will be a second act to De Zerbi’s odyssey in the south of France, one that will see the coach compete in Europe’s elite competition for the first time since his tenure at Shakhtar Donetsk in 2021.
More than 30 years after first falling for the OM of Waddle, it will be the Italian’s turn to try to re-energise Marseille’s proud European heritage.
