“Will you ever wear this shirt? This is not possible. (…) Going to play in Marseille is inconceivable. » However, in football everything is conceivable, especially this type of change, and Adrien Rabiot, author of this statement to Provence In 2016, he joined Olympique de Marseille (OM).
The French international is a good catch for OM on two levels: coveted this summer by the big European clubs, he is a player who was trained at Paris-Saint-Germain, from whom he left on bad terms in 2019. In the eyes of Marseille fans, this is neither a detail nor a problem as they are certain that their Parisian counterparts will have even greater hatred towards the new signing, who has since spent time at Juventus in Turin.
As common as they have become, transfers to an “enemy” club are still transgressions. That’s why it’s best to clean up your social media to escape the digital archaeologists who will track down any traces of past involvement with the rival club you’ve joined.
Players must also guard against oaths of eternal loyalty to their “club of the heart”, beyond the required signs of loyalty such as the fervent kiss on the shirt crest after scoring a goal: no one knows what awaits them at the whims of the transfer window.
Glossary of shame and betrayal
This is what earned the Argentine Gabriel Heinze the fury of the PSG fans, of which he had been an emblematic player, when he signed for OM after a few seasons outside France. The “traitor” even celebrated without hesitation a goal against his former team, and was on his way to winning the French championship in 2010.
This case is not an isolated one: around fifty players have played in Paris and Marseille. Status is decisive in the reception. Unlike Lorik Cana or George Weah, for example, the more modest Fabrice Fiorèse, loaned in 2004, had not conquered the Stade Vélodrome.
As for departures, Mathieu Valbuena’s eight seasons at OM did not earn him any indulgence from his former fans when he signed for Olympique Lyonnais (OL) in 2015: already poorly received by the Rhône fans, he had seen in the stands of Marseille a sinister mannequin simulating his hanging.
In February 2017, Anthony Mounier, who was trained at OL, saw his loan from Atalanta Bergamo to AS Saint-Etienne (ASSE) cancelled in the face of threats from Saint-Etienne fans. In the past, transfers of this kind were rarer. And less sensitive? Bernard Lacombe managed to play his only season (1978-1979) with the Greens without losing his status as the most Lyonnais of OL’s Lyonnais.
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