Marseille’s Europa League trip to Eskisehirspor has been overshadowed by an ugly fracas between Andre Ayew and Mathew Valbuena which has spiraled out of control.
Andre’s younger brother Jordan joined in Tuesday’s training fracas to support his mentor which has drawn massive criticism for the younger Ayew among the Marseille senior players.
The two team-mates were reported to be at each others throat after a rather over-zealous tackle by Andre on the France international and could have led to blows had new manager Elie Baup not intervened.
According to reports, had the coach not arrived on the scene, the duo could have come to blows meaning, that Olympique were just a few blows away from a total PR disaster.
However, the incident does have some impact according to various French sources.
At the end of a forgettable training session, Mathieu Valbuena and several Marseille players, criticised Ayew for not apologising to his team-mate for a bad foul that could have seriously injured the midfielder.
What makes matter even worse is the fact that Ayew’s younger brother, Jordan, intervened in a virulent fashion which further angered some of the senior members of the squad. The young striker has not really impressed his teammates with his antics at all.
Indeed, it was him who had angered France international Morgan Amalfitano in the friendly win over Evian TG a few days back. The former Lorient man blamed Jordan for being excessively individualistic.
In addition to his propensity to play individually, Jordan has further agitated his teammates because of his strong character and his habit of putting his personal ambitions well above anything else.
With the new campaign set to start later this month, Olympique de Marseille would have done well without this whole scenario which surely puts a lot of question marks on the team’s unity and on Baup’s ability to deal with a squad that performed below par last season.
