Vitinha crowned with the number 9, presented alongside the 1991 Ballon d’Or and one of the club’s best strikers Jean-Pierre Papin, and the president Pablo Longoria, without whom this shot which will inevitably be a milestone could not have been possible . With his friend Javier Ribalta, the sports director, they offered themselves, as well as to the people of Marseille, the most expensive recruit in the history of the club: Vítor Manuel Carvalho Oliveira, nicknamed Vitinha, recruited for 32 million, bonus included, in Braga, during the last straight line of the transfer window.
Since the departure of Bamba Dieng in Lorient, Marseille has been busy finding a striker and the OM board has not done things by halves by snatching this young 22-year-old prospect, followed by many European clubs, in nose and beard of several English clubs. But for that, Pablo Longoria still had to show all his quality as a negotiator, with an arrangement of 25 million + 7 bonuses, to reach 32 million, i.e. two more than the player’s departure clause, 10% a possible capital gain on resale and a redemption clause of 60 million for the Portuguese club, according to the press release sent to the Portuguese stock market authority. If these bonuses are reached, it will be the biggest transfer in the history of OM, which had never spent more than the 30 million disbursed to bring Dimitri Payet back in 2017.
Amounts that inevitably raise questions, when you know how little room for maneuver OM has during the last transfer window. And which has necessarily revived some speculation about a possible resale of the club, while supporters of the hashtag #VenteOM only need crumbs to revive certain rumours. This transfer has much more realistic explanations.
Vitinha cheaper than Strootman
Starting with the sales of this transfer window, and the return of Gerson to Flamengo for 20 million euros, the price paid to OM to bring him in the summer of 2021. As well as a nice little capital gain on Bamba Dieng, sold 8 million euros plus 2 bonuses to FC Lorient, which allows OM to recover a lot of money over the next six months. Pablo Longoria, also managed to loan striker Luis Suarez to Almeria, with an option to buy for 8 million euros, as well as Isaak Touré, to Auxerre and Pape Gueye to Seville, without a purchase option for these last.
In the direction of arrivals, OM recorded that of Ruslan Malinovskyi, for 10+3 million euros, and Azzedine Ouahni, announced at more than 20 million after his World Cup, but recruited at 8+2 million euros, “a market opportunity” for OM. That is a negative balance of around 15 million euros. Not to mention that Vitinha has signed a 4 and a half year contract, which allows him to smooth his transfer compensation over this period. OM only have to pay just under 3 million euros by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.
“You have to think in total cost, taking into account the transfer fee as well as the player’s salary. It’s important to realize that paying 30 million over almost five years for Vitinha, with his salary, is cheaper than paying Strootman 25 million +3 and a salary of 4.5 million net per year, “says -on to the management of OM. According to our information, Strootman cost OM nearly 10 million euros per season between the amortization of his transfer and his salary, when Vitinha should cost a little more than 7. Not to mention the possible capital gain on a resale of the young Portuguese striker, unlike Strootman and all the difficulties that OM had to get rid of him.
Savings on payroll and operating costs
The desire of the young Portuguese to join OM rather than an English team also facilitated negotiations on his salary. Overall, the supervision of the wage bill, more rigid since the arrival of Pablo Longoria and the return of Gerson to Flamengo, also releases a margin on the cash since the installment payments of the Brazilian are no longer relevant. Above all, the president of OM has finally fulfilled one of his objectives from the start of the year, that of having a group reduced to around twenty players.
Added to this new partnerships, such as with the label of Jul, D’or and Platine, and increased vigilance on operating costs, the virtuous circle sought by all football clubs is not very far away according to an Olympian source. : “a stronger team, which makes it possible to attract better sponsors and to make better figures in ticket sales”. As a result, the 2022/2023 economic year is on track to be “the best in the last 20 years”, we are pleased internally, with remarkable attendances since the start of the season. So many arguments that can explain a recruitment of nearly 50 million euros this winter, a figure that makes OM the 5th biggest spending club this winter
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