Cleaning out the Locker room…

By: Magnusson | June 9th, 2009

First of all, About Eidur Gudjohnsen, Pape Diouf said to French radio station RMC a few hours ago that there was no agreement whatsoever between Barcelona and Marseille just yet, responding to today’s AS who were declaring the contract to be signed. According to a website close to the club, Marseille might be outbid by Panathinaikos who are making a lot of noise in the beginning of the Mercato.

As for a few players we were thinking about, Didier Deschamps has decided to let go of all the players whose contracts were over at the end of the season.

First of all Renato Civelli. The Argentine was enjoying a second career at Marseille in 2009, becoming a fan favourite after being considered too clumsy to play for us. Everyone believed he would be re-upped as soon as Deschamps arrived since the player himself was hoping to stay and become an important player in next year’s squad. It won’t be the case and Civelli, who is now enjoying vacation in Argentina, won’t have much trouble finding a new club.

Another man who won’t have much trouble finding a new club is Bolo Zenden.The Dutch veteran is the club’s highest paid player and his departure is an attempt to lower the salary-mass and allow us to recruit or offer pay-raises to other players.

Tyrone Mears won’t be playing for us any more either. His contract ended and the club asked him to leave. As much as people were grateful for his goal in the Netherlands that qualified us, a man who couldn’t start at Derby County can’t start at Marseille. A mistake in casting for a man who was appreciated for his professionalism and always very kind to the fans.

Modeste M’bami will be leaving as well, but that’s everything but a surprise. The Cameroon international wanted to leave for the Premiership a year ago but didn’t. Now he’ll be free to offer his services to anyone. I’m ambivalent on this one because on one hand, he had a big salary but on the other hand, M’bami never stopped showing that Marseille was a stepping stone to the Premiership for him. I’m pretty sure he could succeed there is he applies, something he hasn’t done a whole lot of in Marseille.

Sylvain Wiltord will see his six-month contract come to an end. The 34 year-old is professionalism personified and was very helpful in getting everyone focused on the prize. But it’s another one of those incredibly expensive players, especially if they stay on the bench.

Here are five players who won’t be playing with us any more. Marseille said earlier that Didier Deschamps wanted no more thn 25 players in his whole group. Adding Givet, Samassa, Grandin, the Minots (Gnabouyou, Dennoun, Krstic, Mbow, etc….) and potentially Zubar, that’s already thirteen players leaving the Commanderie before anyone gets in.