The more Steve Mandanda to Marseille is considered a sure thing, the more pressure it puts on Marseille to make it so. An absolute hero during his time with the club, Mandanda was a Marseille icon with few contemporary comparisons.
The goalkeeper’s move to Crystal Palace clearly hasn’t worked out and, despite Mandanda being of a higher level than Wayne Hennessey, he hasn’t been able to show his class. Sam Allardyce hasn’t seemed particularly keen on a Mandanda future, which could be partly motivated by continued reports of a Marseille return.
The French club’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta (pictured above) is the man tasked with getting a deal done, and Crystal Palace won’t simply roll over.
Sunday’s edition of L’Equipe claimed Crystal Palace are asking for €5m, which was described as ‘greedy’.
But such a fee isn’t so bad for a 32 year old goalkeeper who was Ligue 1’s best during his final season with Marseille.