OM: Villas-Boas learned about Ntcham transfer on club homepage: “I just want to leave”

Events at Olympique Marseille are escalating quickly. At a press conference on Tuesday, former Chelsea and Tottenham head coach André Villas-Boas surprisingly announced his intention to leave the Ligue 1 club with immediate effect. The reason was the club’s transfer policy in the winter.

When asked about the late signing of Olivier Ntcham from Celtic on deadline day, Villas-Boas (quoted via RMC Sport) explained: “It’s a decision that was not made by me. This is exactly a player I said no to. I didn’t know anything about it, I found out when I woke up and went to OM’s homepage. I handed in my resignation and said that I didn’t agree with the sporting direction. The management didn’t give me final feedback on all the games. I don’t want money, I just want to leave.”

Already at the end of January, the Portuguese had made it publicly known that the contract with Marseille, which expires at the end of the season, will probably not be extended. “I”m waiting for an answer from the club’s management and if it’s a no, we’ll keep going,” said Villas-Boas, who explicitly stressed that the decision had nothing to do with the incidents over the weekend. Hundreds of angry Olympique supporters had protested in front of the club’s training centre and forcibly gained access to La Commanderie on Saturday.

Villas-Boas criticises transfer strategy: “I don’t want to accept that”

“It has nothing to do with what happened over the weekend. It has something to do with the sporting aspect. Even when Nemanja left, I was only informed in the evening,” Villas-Boas said about the departure of Nemanja Radonjic to Hertha BSC. He continued that OM had not made any big moves in terms of transfers “for two or three years already (…) and I don’t want to accept that.” However, the 43-year-old said he was concentrating on the upcoming match against RC Lens on Wednesday for now. “For me, the team of the year. We will prepare in the best possible way. And we will continue until the club management asks me to leave.”

Ad: £1.7m+ paid in fantasy prizes at Footstock, 18+ UK Only