The chase for Breel Embolo ended with $15.1M changing hands and Stade Rennais out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The fee is $9.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. OGC Nice drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
An average of 7.02 in a first team he is several years too young for. Olympique de Marseille have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Olympique de Marseille have had the benefit of it.
Marked 8.63 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Olympique de Marseille support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.30, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olympique de Marseille may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.88 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Olympique de Marseille have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Position 2, 29 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
An average of 7.15 in a first team he is several years too young for. Olympique de Marseille have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Clermont Foot go through and Olympique de Marseille go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Olympique de Marseille know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olympique de Marseille may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Position 2, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
An average of 7.11 in a first team he is several years too young for. Olympique de Marseille have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympique de Marseille heard it as anything else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Quinten Timber. 3‑2 against OGC Nice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.75 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.74 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Olympique de Marseille support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Olympique de Marseille squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Gerónimo Rulli knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.78 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Gerónimo Rulli knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Gerónimo Rulli
The terracesThe press have found their man in Igor Paixão
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 9.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 9.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hamed Traoré. 2‑1 against FC Nantes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Olympique de Marseille support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique de Marseille can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from AC Ajaccio for CJ Egan-Riley was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Balerdi and Olympique de Marseille agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Work is signed off on a capacity of 88576. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
Jean Moulin is 16, and Olympique de Marseille have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mason Greenwood and Olympique de Marseille agree another 5 years.
Quinten Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Gessime Yassine is 20, and Olympique de Marseille have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gerónimo Rulli and Olympique de Marseille agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of CJ Egan-Riley has come up in conversations Olympique de Marseille were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mason Greenwood trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.