He is the one through whom controversies arise. A shadowy leader unknown to the general public, a young thirty-year-old on a commissioned mission, the one to whom we entrust the vile task and to whom we attribute all the connections, supposed or real, which allow a sort of political animal or opportunistic eel, it depends. Ali Zarrak burst into OM news like an elephant in the middle of a china shop, designated to try to break relics deemed obsolete, rightly or wrongly. The Chancel Mbemba episodes, this summer, and Jean-Pierre Papin, these days, have propelled him into the light, making him take on the role of villain that he does not even try to get rid of. Before seeing Pablo Longoria whistle the end of recess on Monday. Here is the troublemaker relieved of his mission at the head of the Pro 2 group, the antechamber of the pros, to occupy other functions, such as the study of European clubs on the operating methods with the reserve teams, scouting or the transfer window . At La Commanderie, some argue that he was already in charge of these files. On Tuesday, he attended Lille-Juventus, in the Champions League; this Wednesday, he was in Paris where he notably observed the Youth League meeting between PSG and Atlético de Madrid.
Arriving in December 2023 at OM, this childhood friend of Bouna Sarr, originally like the former Olympian from Lyon, was not bothered by questions or feelings. “He plays it but has not decided alone to go to conflict“, we insist in the corridors of the Robert Louis-Dreyfus center. “He is loyal. If he is tasked with an unpleasant mission, he takes it on and carries it out coldly even if it falls on his head.“, summarizes Pierre Wantiez who hired him to expand the recruitment unit at Le Havre. The one who is at the head of Martigues, from now on, keeps the memory of a boy”full of energy and certainty, always very clear. There was never any friction with the technical staff“, he recalls again.
“He wanted to join a club”
His arrival at OM, almost a year ago, bears the stamp of a former leader, Stéphane Tessier, who clearly saw himself taking the chair occupied by Longoria before gradually disappearing from the Olympian landscape, while leaving this cumbersome inheritance. The two men have known each other for years having worked together in the sports agent company that Tessier ran with David Wantier. “Ali passed and obtained the agent's license and worked in this company where he gained weight when Wantier joined AS Saint-Étienne“, says a friend.
