Olympique de Marseille | Official Communication
Olympique de Marseille announced today that President of Olympique de Marseille Jacques-Henri Eyraud and OM Academy Director Nasser Larguet hosted 5 young footballers from the Academy for them to sign their first professional contracts:
- Nassim Ahmed (20 years old)
- Ugo Bertelli (16 years old)
- Cheick Souaré (17 years old)
- Jorès Rahou (17 years old)
- Richecard Richard (18 years old).
Following last week's signing of Aaron Kamardin (18), there are now 6 professional contracts signed from the Academy this season.
These signatures demonstrate the importance of the club's youth structure, which has been at the center of the club’s strategy since the arrival of Frank McCourt. The budget of the academy has been increased by 30% with an investment directed at several points:
- Top coaches and sporting staffs
- Targeting a talented group of players, partly from the best football academies in Marseille and its surrounding areas
- A development of the youth project to rival Europe's greatest training programs.
The club has never had signed so many Academy products to professional contracts with such a young an average age. Since the 1999/2000 season, only 2.5 players have turned pro on average, with a maximum of 5 players in the 2019-20 and 2014-15 seasons.
Just four years after the takeover of the club, these signatures reflect the successful implementation of the project and foreshadow the leaders' ambition to continue the ramp-up of the Academy in the years to come.
