When it was announced that Eric Bailly would be loaned to Marseille by Manchester United, many at Old Trafford thought they had seen the back of the Ivory Coast international for good.
That’s because it was said there was an option to buy in the deal that seemed almost compulsory, although the details revealed over the past few months have suggested otherwise.
This is mostly due to the player’s fitness issues, that have continued away from Manchester United, limiting his time on the pitch, as Foot Mercato now state there is a real ‘mystery’ surrounding the player.
Recent reports have suggested Marseille need to qualify for the Champions League and Bailly has to appear in 50% of the Ligue 1 club’s games to have to pay the option to buy, and while the former is on track, the latter isn’t.
We’ve already covered that, but there has been a new twist in all this, and that’s the fact he was left on the bench in this weekend’s game against Stade de Reims.
Why is this such a big deal? Because suspensions and injuries meant Igor Tudor only had three fit centre-backs for his three at the back formation, and he still chose to leave the Manchester United man out of his starting line up, electing to move midfielder Valentin Rongier back into his defence.
Foot Mercato cover the situation on Monday, stating the situation around Bailly is now a ‘mystery’, and even Tudor’s justification of it being a ‘technical choice’ was far from convincing.
The Manchester United loanee’s last appearance for the club was in the recent loss to Paris Saint-Germain, where the centre-back was dismantled by an in-form Kylian Mbappé.
Whether that was enough to convince Tudor and those above him to send him back to Manchester United and do whatever to avoid paying the option to buy remains to be seen, but it certainly is beginning to look that way.
