At the end of the summer transfer window, Wolverhampton Wanderers were pushed forward as one of the main contenders for Duje Ćaleta-Car by the French media.
Marseille were keen on cashing in from the defender’s sale as his exit would have helped them bring in new faces to the club. That didn’t happen as the 24-year-old was reluctant to leave the Ligue 1 side.
His decision to not accept a move to Wolves or elsewhere didn’t please the leaders of the French club, and last Thursday, L’Equipe reported Marseille were thinking of punishing the player.
Tuesday’s edition of the same newspaper says the Croatia international ‘remained inflexible’ and decided against making a switch, despite receiving ‘concrete offers’ from Bruno Lage’s side and Valencia.
L’Equipe say Marseille’s ‘anger and disappointment’ towards the centre-back has ‘faded a bit’. The French club’s leaders, who were thinking of punishing Ćaleta-Car for snubbing Wolves and Valencia, have now decided to look at ‘more reasonable options’.
That’s because Marseille, as per the report, felt ‘punishing’ Ćaleta-Car for his refusal to accept Wolves or Valencia’s proposal would be ‘difficult to defend legally’ and doing that will also devalue the player.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side want to avoid doing that because they ‘still want to sell, in the short term’, suggesting Marseille will look to offload Ćaleta-Car in January.
