OM have been spending at a Champions League level without consistently generating Champions League-level revenues.The big warning came in the 2024/25 accounts: Marseille recorded a €104.8m net loss, the largest loss of the Frank McCourt era. Instead of immediately retrenching, OM essentially doubled down for 2025/26. With the Champions League back, they built an extremely expensive squad. According to L'Équipe, their “loaded” wage bill reached a club-record €163m.

Some of their biggest monthly gross salaries were approximately:

Højbjerg – €500k
Greenwood – €450k
Kondogbia – €450k
Aguerd – €400k
Aubameyang – €350k
Pavard – €350k paid by OM
Balerdi – €350k
Paixão – €350k

Average first-team salary was estimated at roughly €300k per month. And then the sporting plan collapsed. They went out of the Champions League, De Zerbi left in February, Habib Beye replaced him, Pablo Longoria subsequently left, and OM eventually finished 5th in Ligue 1. Instead of another Champions League season, they have Europa League revenues in 2026/27.

Then came UEFA and the DNCG. On 17 June UEFA officially ruled that OM had failed its football earnings target. It also found that Marseille's squad-cost ratio was above the permitted 70%. The punishment:

- €6m fine for the football-earnings breach;
- another €4m for the squad-cost breach;
- restrictions on registering new players on Europa League List A;
- and, most importantly, a suspended exclusion from UEFA competition.

If OM do not meet their financial target during 2026/27, the suspended European ban can become effective.

Nine days later, France's DNCG imposed its own restrictions: officially, an “encadrement de la masse salariale et des indemnités de mutations” — controls over both Marseille's wage bill and transfer expenditure. So OM aren't technically under a normal domestic “transfer ban”. But practically: sell → reduce wages → create financial headroom → only then buy.

According to L'Équipe, McCourt has put in:

€50m in February 2026
€70m in July 2026
= €120m during 2026

And the purpose was explicitly to cover Marseille's losses, not to give Grégory Lorenzi a €120m transfer budget. He had already injected another €94.5m in summer 2025. McCourt estimated last year that he had put roughly €640m into OM between 2016 and 2025. With the latest injections his commitment is therefore now comfortably above €700m.

From a corporate-finance perspective, the distinction is crucial: McCourt's cash solves the liquidity/equity problem. It does not solve the operating-model problem. You can recapitalise a company that loses €100m. That doesn't make the underlying business profitable. And shareholder injections aren't normal football revenues that repair OM's UEFA squad-cost ratio.

Marseille now have an enormous cost-cutting target L'Équipe reports that OM committed to reducing their loaded wage bill from: €163m → €94m. That's a €69m reduction, or roughly 42%, in one year. Greenwood has already gone to Fenerbahçe for around €39m. Aubameyang was sold, with his salary being at least as important as the small transfer fee. Hamed Traoré has been loaned to Genoa. OM have an agreement worth around €23m + €2m bonuses for Facundo Medina with Leverkusen, while Rulli, Aguerd, Paixão, Gouiri, Højbjerg and others have been linked with exits.

L'Équipe reported that Marseille are effectively prepared to listen to offers for almost everybody. Romain Molina reported that McCourt wants approximately €150m of player sales by 30 June 2027 and that essentially the entire squad is transferable. Other reporting puts the commitment nearer €80m of transfer receipts, alongside the enormous wage reduction. Eurosport reports approximately €80m of sales and a wage bill below €100m. Eurosport

OM aren't broke because McCourt has money. OM's football operation is financially unsustainable at its current scale. And now McCourt appears to have essentially said: enough — bring the cost base back under control.

OM hopes to quickly finalize the arrival of Bruno Genesio

Stéphane Richard and the former LOSC coach have spoken and the chemistry was very good

at the club, many players view his arrival at the club favourably

late goals conceded has cost us:

10pts in the league (would’ve been 1st), 4 extra points in UCL (would’ve been top 8), our first trophy in 14 years

MariusN wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025, 00:09 Under-performeriai pagaliau performino O nukirsti anglus visada smagiau negu bet ka kita. Jeigu imam bent vienus is likusiu dvieju belgu, kitas etapas manau pagaliau bus. O Liverpooli sulaikyti butu visiskas desertas!

T-Wolves wrote: ↑16 Sep 2024, 20:11 Aš manau jis norėjo į EPL, bet tiesiog niekam iš top klubų neprireikė jo paslaugų. Dar DD nepakvietė į paskutinį langą duodamas suprast, kad laikas susirast komandą. Gerbiu, kad ne į Saudo Arabija visgi, o lieka Europoje. Šiaip jam jau 29, tai po dviejų metų, kai sutartis baigsis, nemanau, kad bus geidžiamesnis žaidėjas nei dabar.