Papin has definitively decided for his future

Jean-Pierre Papin should remain loyal to Olympique de Marseille. Despite internal tensions with Ali Zarrak, the 1991 Ballon d'Or, would have decided to continue his mission at the head of the reserve, according to information from La Provence. Announced with insistence on the side of Martigues in recent days, which is looking for a successor to Thierry Laurey, “JPP” would have finally rejected this possibility, unconvinced by the sporting ambitions of the Provençal club, currently last in Ligue 2 and humiliated by Bourgoin-Jallieu in French Cup (4-1).

Papin refuses Martigues!

Good news for OM and more particularly for Pablo Longoria. At a press conference last week, the Spaniard did not hide his desire to see the club legend continue the adventure: “Jean-Pierre Papin, we are happy with his work with the Pro 2. It's true that there have been tensions internally, we must not hide it. When there are changes, it provokes reactions, that's normal. For us, creating a second team like that is something new. It's something that's closer to something professional, because we take it out of the training center. It's normal that it creates tension, it happens everywhere. These are normal situations in football, you don't always train with the whole team, you have to manage relationships with the first team… I already experienced this kind of situation in Valencia. What is important now is to keep the working methodology. The objective of Pro 2 is clear: to prepare players to play at a professional level with adults, which is not the same as in U17 or U19. That's the objective.”

As a reminder, Jean-Pierre Papin is doing a good job with the OM reserve team, which plays in National 3 and is currently third in its group behind FC Rousset-Ste Victoire and ES Fos.

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