Newcastle United player Florian Thauvin returned to Marseille on loan this season, after spending the second half of the last season at the Ligue 1 club.
French newspaper L’Equipe on Sunday reveal Marseille boss Franck Passi wanted to sign Thauvin at the Ligue 1 club at any cost.
Marseille made a dozen phone calls to Thauvin when he was on holidays with his girlfriend, and then training at Newcastle.
The Ligue 1 club have an automatic purchase option of €11.5m at the end of the season, whilst Newcastle will also get a certain percentage from any future transfer.
L’Equipe say Thauvin made every effort to sign for Marseille this summer and in January.
The Frenchman took a massive wage cut in January to sign on loan, and is now earning a little more than during that period, which is believed to be around €220k per month.
Thauvin would now certainly be hoping to revive his career at Marseille, and it seems he has the support of Passi.
