Club ‘will push in January’ to sell player – Offer from Wolves mentioned again

Marseille lost 4-2 to Galatasaray on Thursday evening, and it ended the Ligue 1 side’s chances of making it out of their Europa League group.

Instead, Lazio and the Turkish club will be going through to the next round.

This obviously hasn’t gone down very well in France, and Friday’s edition of L’Equipe has an article on the failure, singling three players out. One of the unfortunate men is Duje Caleta-Car, and a claimed offer from Wolves is dragged up again.

The Croatia international is given blame for Galatasaray’s first goal, which came before he scored an own goal. It was a ‘disastrous’ start to the match for the defender, although it’s acknowledged Marseille’s defence was left ‘far too exposed’.

Having wanted to sell him in the summer to raise funds, the French side ‘will push in January’ to do so. According to the report, Caleta-Car refused two moves in the summer, with offers from Wolves and Valencia arriving.

Part of the reason for the refusal was personal, with the defender’s family then about to welcome a new baby. The 25-year-old was somewhat ostracised at the beginning of the season, and later brought back in… giving some good performances.

It felt like the player was being used as some of sort of example, and some of the French claims had a whiff of PR on behalf of those in charge behind the scenes at Marseille.

Despite all the Wolves claims, at the end of August a source informed Sport Witness that Wolves had made no offer for Caleta-Car and he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Then there was insistence from France that a late move could happen, which, of course, didn’t prove to be the case.

Part of the Marseille annoyance will be because the Croatian has a contract expiring in June 2023, and his value will now start to fall.