Quentin Merlin’s injury is a shame for OM, but the Marseille club has little chance of recruiting a medical joker, as the former Nantes player is expected to return within two to three weeks at the most.
A few days before his trip to Lyon for the 5th day of Ligue 1, Roberto De Zerbi is facing a small construction site in defense. If in attack, everything is going well with players full of confidence (Harit, Luis Henrique, Greenwood) and a compact midfield since the start of the season thanks to the good performances of Hojbjerg or Kondogbia, it is in defense that doubts are accumulating. Against Nice last weekend, Olympique de Marseille signed its first clean sheet of the season. But for the trip to Lyon, Roberto De Zerbi will be without two potential starters: Derek Cornelius (suspended) and Quentin Merlin (injured).
Quentin Merlin back in two weeks?
Two problems for the Italian coach, because the Canadian international is clearly improving and would probably have started in place of Lilian Brassier in Lyon if he had not been suspended, while the left-back trained in Nantes was quite simply one of OM’s best players over the first three days. His absence is detrimental especially since there are not many solutions to replace him, apart from Rongier (and switching Murillo to the left) or Lirola. This is not a dream and Olympique de Marseille has therefore considered the possibility of recruiting a joker, medical or not, in this position, as indicated elsewhere. This trend has nevertheless run out of steam and today, it seems more likely to see OM stick with the current squad.
According to information from ProvenceQuentin Merlin’s absence should not exceed two to three additional weeks since his return is expected against Angers on October 4. Suffice to say that for an absence that is certainly very annoying but also short, Marseille should not increase its payroll. On the other hand, the Marseille club is furious with the staff of Gérald Baticle’s French Espoirs team, who played Merlin injured for the second match of the gathering, after an injury contracted during the first match. “It was anything but a crutch” plague the Marseille board, which did not fail to make its discontent known to the French Football Federation. In the meantime, Roberto De Zerbi will have to find the best formula without his very offensive left-back. In the defensive sector, he can fortunately count on the return of his captain Leonardo Balerdi, recovered from a thigh injury that deprived him of the trip to Toulouse and the reception of Nice.
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