Marseille do not want to trigger their obligation to buy loanee Eric Bailly from Manchester United this summer.
French outlet L’Equipe report that the Ligue 1 outfit have an obligation to buy the £25 million defender if he plays a certain amount of games.
They say that he would have to play ten of the last 12 games of the league campaign to trigger that, for just over £6 million.
On top of that, Marseille would need to qualify for next season’s Champions League, and they sit second in the table as it stands and are on course for it.
Marseille do not want to trigger obligation to buy Eric Bailly
That means that the club will not play him in enough games to trigger that obligation, and they do not want to be bound to Bailly.
But even if they don’t trigger the obligation, they would still have the option to negotiate a transfer for Bailly as a priority over other clubs.
It does not seem like United are on course to raise a huge amount of money for Bailly, but Erik ten Hag does need to clear the decks somewhat this summer.
United are well-stocked at centre-back and Bailly’s injury record is such that he falls into the Anthony Martial category of not being able to be relied upon.
Bailly was handed a seven-game suspension for his kung-Fu kick in Marseille’s Coupe de France win against Hyeres in January.
Bailly’s reckless challenge saw the former Villarreal man’s raised foot hit Almike Moussa N’Diaye’s chest, and put him in hospital.
That shows his loan spell has not gone entirely to plan and makes it more understandable that Marseille are not convinced by him.
It remains to be seen what the future holds, but United have to get better at offloading fringe players in Ten Hag’s second summer in charge.
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