Marseille’s President hits back at Nice over the Mario Balotelli transfer, insisting they set the asking price at €10m.
L’OM have been pushing to sign the Italian international all summer, but on Monday night it was confirmed that he’d be staying with Les Aiglons.
Marseille’s President hits back at Nice over the Mario Balotelli transfer, insisting they set the asking price at €10m.
L’OM have been pushing to sign the Italian international all summer, but on Monday night it was confirmed that he’d be staying with Les Aiglons.
Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivère explained yesterday that Marseille wouldn’t pay the €4-5m they’d agreed with agent Mino Raiola, but that has today been contradicted.
“No Nice director told me that the player could leave for €5m,” insisted Jaques-Henri Eyraud, speaking to L’Équipe.
“The last information I have is that he would leave for a price of no less than €10m. I told him I wasn’t interested in that price, just as I told another Nice director [Julien Fournier] when we met in Russia.
“Beyond the price, the duration of the contract and the salary of the player are important criteria.
“You’re not going to be able to create a conflict between Jean-Pierre Rivère and me, I have a lot of respect for Jean-Pierre.
“He’s been very successful and this saga with Balotelli won’t change what I think of him. At Nice though, not necessarily everyone wanted the player to sign for Marseille…
“It’s not a big deal and it’s a subject for another day, but to say that we wouldn’t pay €1.5m to close the deal is not the reality and doesn’t fool anyone.
“I’m also thinking about the player here, people spoke a lot on his behalf but we didn’t think much about his will, and he wants to play for the club of his choosing.
“Was that Marseille? I will not say more on that subject. He is a real talent, a good lad and someone who loves football. This saga just sums up modern football.”
Eyraud was asked if a deal is dead.
“I think so, since Nice announced it. So I have to conclude that Mario Balotelli will be at Nice next season. We have moved on.
“In negotiations like these, it’s necessary that every party involved make sacrifices. Achieving a balanced agreement is the most important thing in business.
“Our interests weren’t completely aligned with those of the other parties. Regardless of how talented he is, it wasn’t worth risking the economic foundations of our project and our ethical line of conduct.
“This year, we never said we were going to recruit a number 9, but it's amazing to see that we are not being listened to.
“We did not miss the qualification to the Champions League because we did not score enough goals last season.
“OM scored 80 goals in Ligue 1 last season, the highest total since the 1970-1971 season.
“We scored 35 times out of 38 in Ligue 1, only Paris Saint-Germain did better.”
So why go after Balotelli then?
“Because the conditions of a deal were there. Nice wanted to sell him and I thought it was a deal that could be beneficial for both parties.
“The discussions were not that long. At the beginning of July, I told Jean-Pierre that I was not willing to pay the asking price.
“The next contact with Nice was in August.”
It has previously been suggested that Mino Raiola caused the deal to stall by demanding huge commissions…
“No comment.”