Frank McCourt’s OM Champions Project: Perhaps not the fireworks everyone expected… but it’s a start.

There are two sets of thoughts on the transfer strategy adopted by Olympique de Marseille. The optimists, and the realists. It was perhaps easy (too easy?) to get caught up in the wild rhetoric about how much Marseille were ‘back’, how a sleeping giant would immediately stake a claim for the Ligue 1 title, and finally had the financial clout to match its gloried history, storied fanbase and wonderful stadium.

It didn’t help either that the club’s hierarchy were peddling an optimistic dream in France’s media over the course of the year that has elapsed since Frank McCourt agreed a deal to buy OM from Margarita Louis-Dreyfus – whose own ‘hands-off’ strategy left OM at the knees.

Statements such as McCourt’s willingness to spend €50m on a striker (if the opportunity presented itself) were met by virtual acclaim on the Twittosphere. It whetted the appetite of a notoriously hard-to-please fanbase whom, after suffering for the best part of 5 years were keen to live a plausible situation in which their club were able to spend serious money in search of a place back in Europe’s elite.

And so, after the early blow made by the signings of Morgan Sanson and Dimitri Payet in particular, the latter earning OM continental notoriety in a typically morose January window seemed to buy into the idea that McCourt and co. were ready to spend, and spend big.

The groundwork for the summer window was laid out with a rather impressive 5th place in Ligue 1. With former Barcelona Sporting Director Andoni Zubizarreta and his network of scouts ready, it would only be a matter of time before the ‘Champions Project’ would be in full swing.

Fast forward 91 days to the end of the summer 2017 window, there remains a distinct sense of unease by the OM support as to how the first test of McCourt’s plans have panned out. It’s not that the investment hasn’t materialised – Marseille have spent more on this window than in any other – but questions remain about the supposed strength of the players acquired.

There was to be no Giroud, no Koscielny, not even valuable young performers in the form of Moussa Dembélé, Joris Gnagnon or Issa Diop. What OM settled for was for a motley crew of players ranging from the surprising addition of Luiz Gustavo, a former treble winner with Bayern Munich, to the welcome additions of Jordan Amavi and Valere Germain, and the welcome (Steve Mandanda) and not-so-welcome (Lucas Ocampos) returns of familiar faces.

The main sticking point of the mercato had been two key positions up front and at the back, a search that initially had started upon McCourt’s acquisition of the club last year.