A new-look Olympique Marseille start the new French League One season on August 8 with a lineup capable of challenging Bordeaux for the championship, but chief coach Didier Deschamps knows the imminence of the World Cup could prove a major distraction.
A preseason friendly on July 21 which ended in a 2-1 defeat by the French champions, gave Deschamps an idea of how difficult it is likely to be to build a cohesive side from a squad comprising so many internationals, likely to be preoccupied by selection for their countries at the South African soccer fest.
Following the death of Marseille owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus at the beginning of July and the linked departure of popular club chairman Pape Diouf, it has been a period of re-assessment at the Stade Velodrome.
But new chief executive Jean-Claude Dassier quickly made his mark, earmarking a hefty budget to strengthen the defensive end of the squad. A record 18 million-euro grab for Argentine international Lucho Gonzalez from FC Porto followed.
"He is going to bring us a great deal," nodded veteran keeper Steve Mandanda approvingly after the 28-year-old ran out in the club's s July 17 friendly against Ajaccio. "This is a high quality player, very strong technically and very intelligent."
The side's defensive potential received a boost with the signing of another Argentine international - the former Manchester United player Gabriel Heinze - from Real Madrid.
Other summer signings to plug gaps in a sometimes porous defence are Senegalese international Souleymane Diawara (30) from Bordeaux, Cameroon midfielder Stephane Mbia (24) from Rennes and Cyril Rool (34) from Nice.
Deschamps also brought in midfielder Edouard Cisse from Turkish champions Besiktas, a player familiar from the coach's time at Monaco, the highlight of which was the 2004 Champions League final (won by Porto).
Another of the coach's old acquaintances is Spanish international Fernando Morientes, equally a veteran of Monaco days.
The 33-year-old Valencia striker is out of contract and his arrival at the Velodrome could be the cherry on the cake.
"He's a great professional and a very likeable person. Also his characesteristics and his profile will suit the team," Deschamps said about the Spaniard.
Deschamps professes himself unfazed by the current sky-rocketing prices in the transfer market: "One could say it's excessive but when you have a buyer and a seller agreeing that is what happens, it applies for a car or a house, so I can't say I am particularly shocked," he said on Marseille's web TV channel.
Champions League action is the glittering prize Dassier and Deschamps are aiming for, but the latter, in allusion to Bordeaux's league triumph in May, admits that "nothing can replace having a team in place over a period of two years - they were not champions for nothing,"
"We need to perform from the start, I can already see improvements and moves coming automatically, but these need to be repeated over a long period," added Deschamps.
Meanwhile, Marseille's first home match of the season - against Lille on Aug 16 - is having to be relocated to Montpellier because of a judicial enquiry which has shut the Stade Velodrome.
(AFP via China Daily August 4, 2009)
