Marseille have spent months trying to convince Sérgio Conceição to become their next manager | OneFootball

According to Foot Mercato, Olympique de Marseille’s priority for their next manager was always Sérgio Conceição over Paulo Fonseca, and the club have worked tirelessly since February to secure his signature.

Conceição ticks all the boxes for a Marseille manager, as the current Porto boss has brought a successful and attractive style of football to the Portuguese league, with the club having won three league titles and four Taça de Portugal’s during his time in the second city.

In the Champions League, Porto under Conceição have often performed above their means with the manager guiding them to two quarter-final finishes, the most recent coming in the 2020/21 season.

It helps also that Conceição has Ligue 1 experience from his lone season at FC Nantes where his appointment in December 2016 saw the the club climb from second bottom to a seventh-place finish.

For Conceição’s part, he has left his future at Porto unclear. In a press conference after Porto’s win over Sporting yesterday evening in the Taça de Portugal, the manager declared, “In my head, my future is already decided. I will communicate it in the coming days […] I want to make it clear that the situation is well-defined and that I have already made my decision.”

Whether this means that Conceição will be arriving in La Provence is yet to be seen, there is a worry that no European football and a squad in need of a dramatic overhaul, would not attract a manager who reportedly sees his future competing in the Champions League.

GFFN | Nick Hartland