Batshuayi wages rubbish, Marseille finances the 'real' issue

TRANSFER TALK

Transfer Talk: Batshuayi wages rubbish

Transfer Talk takes a look at the transfer situations surrounding Tottenham Hotspur and keeps things same. Take today, we see some scare mongering, first it is Barcelona interest, then it is Chelsea interest. Batshuayi has turned down West Ham and Chelsea yet the British press want you to believe Chelsea are just entering the face, there is no race. None of this has had any effect on Spurs so now we get a wages story. That's either Marseille spinning a story or journalistic invention.

This is all to try and build pressure on us, to create a scarcity value. Marseille wants us to think we might lose him and thus pay their price. It isn't working. Transfer Talk has brought you the real story before from the local French press, this is all about Marseille's finances.

The Daily Mirror have come up with a complete invention, that Michy Batshuayi is demanding £100,000-a-week and that is why the deal hasn't gone through yet.

The reason the deal hasn't gone through yet is the transfer fee, terms have all been agreed with Batshuayi and have been for weeks. This is simply a newspaper writing their own angle on a story for the gullible so they can write further articles, an old media trick, invent something, run with it a while, then kill it. You'll note there is no source in their article and no hint of where this information came from, no surprise when it isn't accurate shall we say.

This is simply an attempt to be different to sell papers and get views for their advertisers. The local French paper La Provence have run several stories on the troubles at Marseille and it is there one must look for the real story.

The Marseille owner will not pump money into balance the books and stave off financial disaster. The sale of Batshayi was put in the clubs budget last year so he must be sold by 30 June. The French paper are adamant, Marseille has no choice but to sell him, they are in serious trouble if they don't, they could be relegated. Marseille have financial reports to submit and have to raise 40m EUR by 30 June, ideally by 23 June.

Their president has been flying around Europe trying to sell players, nobody is buying because they all know the situation Marseille are in. They are all waiting until as late as possible to pick up bargains, it's the common sense thing to do. Marseille will have no choice but to reduce their asking prices, they simply have to sell players full-stop. In fact, the president has now put the whole side up for sale report La Provence, everyone is for sale.

Last summer, Marseille introduced a salary cap and they have let a host of players go who came to the end of their contracts, five over the past two season. That has created its own problem because the club hasn't received an income for them. That has simply made their balance sheet worse, they are in a downward spiral, this season they will be looking towards loans and free players. The club is up for sale, the owner wants out.


Nine players were brought in last summer, they paid a fee for one of them, £3m, yet th British press would have you believe they are leading the chase for Ibrissa Gueye, the Aston Villa defensive midfielder we have recently been linked with who has a release clause of £7.1 million. Lassana Diarra, one of those signed for free has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for free anytime he likes.

Tottenham are simply playing the logical waiting game. he can't train with Spurs, he is with France so there is no rush. Batshuayi wants to come to Spurs, the nearer we get to 30 June the greater the pressure on Marseille to take a lower fee, any fee just to get some money into the club. He won't be bought at the sums suggested, the fee will be less that is for sure.

This is about wages, total poppycock. If you want the real story about a Frenchman, go read a French newspaper, his local one, La Provence. You'll note French Football have now picked up on this and are now referencing the paper.