Marseille’s plans rocked as coach Jorge Sampaoli leaves club

MARSEILLE, France: Marseille’s preparations for next season were rocked Friday as coach Jorge Sampaoli left by mutual consent. Sampaoli was popular with the club’s very demanding fans and guided 1993 Champions League winner Marseille back into the competition, after the southern club finished second in the French league to Paris Saint-Germain.

“Marseille and Jorge Sampaoli announce a mutual decision to end their collaboration,” the club said in a statement. “Since arriving in Marseille he invested himself fully in putting into a place a style of play and a fighting spirit which corresponded to Marseille.” The 62-year-old Argentine had demanded a strong summer recruitment drive from club president Pablo Longoria and reportedly was unhappy with a lack of strong signings so far.

Sampaoli took over from Andre Villas-Boas midway through the 2020-21 campaign and the former Argentina coach quickly turned the club’s fortunes around. The team’s work rate rose sharply as attitudes improved, and he started to get the best out of veteran playmaker Dimitri Payet again.

“Marseille wish to sincerely and very warmly thank Jorge Sampaoli for his work. After 16 months of working together, this work helped the club step up a level,” Marseille said in a statement.