‘I know how Roberto De Zerbi works, and why he left Brighton’ – Mehdi Benatia on Marseille’s recruitment strategy | OneFootball

Marseille have majorly overhauled their playing squad since the arrival of Roberto De Zerbi at the helm as head coach of Olympique de Marseille. The winter recruits have been further evidence of that: the likes of Elye Wahi and Lilian Brassier, and Ismaël Koné were swiftly moved on despite in some circumstances only several months at the club. Marseille’s director of football Medhi Benatia is well aware of the specific demands of players needed to play under De Zerbi, and spoke at length in an interview with L’Équipe about involving the Italian head coach in the process of recruiting and moving on players during the transfer window.“I knew how Roberto felt about his job and why he left Brighton,” Benatia told L’Équipe journalist Mathieu Grégoire in a lengthy interview this week. “De Zerbi-Ball isn’t for everyone, the centre-halves and the two midfielders have to touch the ball 130 times a game, and if I bring him centre-halves and midfielders who don’t have a foot, but are just capable of tackling or jumping to head the ball, that’s not what he needs.”“At the outset, we made a commitment to include him in all our recruitment discussions. However, all final decisions are taken by Pablo Longoria (club chairman) and myself,” outlined the former Morocco international.GFFN | George Boxall