Olympique de Marseille are in a difficult financial situation and the club’s CEO, Stéphane Richard, who joined the club earlier this year, is not looking to hide the gravity of the situation.

Marseille were at considerable risk of expulsion from European competition this summer. However, UEFA allowed the Ligue 1 club to honour their UEFA Europa League qualification on the condition that their wage bill was slashed. Should the measures not be implemented, expulsion from any potential European qualification for next season would be a very real possibility.

Marseille ‘at risk of survival’?

As a result, key players such as Mason Greenwood, Facundo Medina, Leonardo Balerdi, and Geronimo Rulli all left. Despite considerable sales in the summer, there weren’t enough to allow OM to recruit. As a result, ambitions have been reigned in this season. Bruno Genesio’s side are currently on a four-game losing run in all competitions, and it isn’t just on the pitch where there are problems.

“When you have a business that can lose 50% of its revenue, you can say that it is at risk; it is at risk of survival,” Richard said in a Tangram Talks interview transcribed by Foot Mercato. “It is also at risk in a sporting sense. We have examples around us… Girondins de Bordeaux. Those who think that OM are immortal because it’s OM are mistaken. We are worried. I hear that every day. And, ‘So What?’ I am also worried. But you still have to come to the stadium; you still have to support us,” added Richard. Ominous.