Mason Greenwood has been caught up in the chaos encircling Marseille in the wake of the Ligue 1 side’s ruinous Champions League defeat to Club Brugge on Wednesday, with details about the former Manchester United star’s relationship with his sporting director emerging with the club at a crossroads.
Daily Mail Sport reported on Thursday that according to reports in France, head coach Roberto De Zerbi could be sacked from the dugout ahead of their clash against Paris FC this weekend.
Director of football Medhi Benatia has been vocal about his unhappiness in the wake of the defeat, and stressed that there will be ‘consequences’ for the European slip that denied them a place in the play-offs by just one spot in the rankings.
But Greenwood may also find himself under the microscope on the French Riviera, with the forward thought to have increasingly rubbed Benatia the wrong way.
As per L’Equipe, Greenwood and Benatia are said to openly ignore one another whenever they cross paths, with the director of football often a vocal critic of the 24-year-old both on and off the pitch.
Benatia is thought to have been angry that Greenwood shirked a commercial responsibility last summer with little concerns for the repercussions.
The report also revealed how Benatia is said to have raged at his club captain Leonardo Balerdi during a late-night meeting ahead of the Champions Trophy meeting with Paris Saint-Germain at the start of January.
After upbraiding the players for a number of minutes in the wake of their disappointing league defeat to Nantes three days earlier, Benatia is believed to have been furious when Balerdi raised an issue previously brought by the squad over dressing room space.
Marseille players share their dressing room with a number of club staff, with the space’s position in training complex making it a thoroughfare – with the squad keen for an area with greater privacy.
Benatia is said to have hit out at the skipper with no little aggression, asking him: ‘Tell me, Leo, are the one paying rent on the locker room?’
De Zerbi is not thought to have present for the charged meeting, further highlighting the divisions throughout the club.
The former Brighton head coach position in Marseille may be under threat, but in his post-match rant this week, Benatia did stress that he places the blame with the players.
‘Today, you play a match like that against a team with an average age of 20-22,’ Benatia said after the final whistle on Wednesday. ‘You don’t win a single duel.
‘All week, I’ve been giving team talks. When you have this kind of disgusting, horrible defeat, people tend to blame the coach. But I attend the talks. All week, we knew they were going to attack hard, that they would start strong.
‘If there’s a player in the box and four of us are watching him, is that the coach’s fault? No, it’s not the coach’s fault. I really hope some of the players will do some soul-searching. We’re good at talking. This generation often gets involved in things that aren’t their business.
‘But when you have to get them on the pitch and you do absolutely nothing, and you have players who haven’t realized what’s going on, it’s a different story. Of the event, which is currently taking place, I cannot accept it.’
Former Marseille star Christophe Dugarry disagreed however, with the ex-France international implying that the Italian manager was a ‘clown’ and ‘overrated’.
‘De Zerbi is more responsible than the rest,’ Dugarry said on Friday. ‘You can criticise the players, but I think they need a message they understand.
‘We mustn’t forget the coach’s role; he has to help the players improve. When I see the OM players so lost, I wonder what’s been done. De Zerbi is responsible. He’s changed the line-up 30 times in 30 games!
‘De Zerbi is overrated. He’s completely disoriented, constantly contradicting himself from one match to the next. Yesterday, he made history – congratulations!
‘He’s completely lost, he’s useless. How can you blame the players if the coach used 30 different line-ups in 30 matches? We were players! It’s already difficult to understand two or three different formations. From the moment the coach decided to use 30 different line-ups, he’s responsible.
‘It’s normal for the players to be lost on the pitch. He contradicts himself in press conferences. In the locker room, we would have laughed at him! We would have said, “who is this clown?” The players are lost.’
De Zerbi has taken the side to third in Ligue 1 this season, and while Champions League glory is off the table, the club remain competitive in the Coupe de France, facing off against Rennes next week.
