American investor Frank McCourt has become the new owner of Olympique de Marseille “after finalizing the purchase on Monday,” according to Baptiste Desprez of LE FIGARO. The sale, estimated to be worth €45M ($49.5M), “starts a new era for the club.” Newly appointed OM President Jacques-Henri Eyraud “did not waste time in taking up his post at the training center to present himself to workers and players.” The McCourt-Eyraud duo “looks to strengthen the structure of the club,” with new sporting and finance/marketing directors. Satisfied with the outcome of several months of negotiations, McCourt did not hide his “pride” and “honor” of becoming part of the “great history of OM” (LEFIGARO, 10/17). 20 MINUTES reported McCourt unveiled his plan for the club. The principal announcement was that he will “inject at least” €200M ($220M) into the club. McCourt: “I am ready to invest more than €200 million over four years, that’s more than the past 20 years. With the objective of winning a championship.” He did not detail how he would allocate the money, but he said, “There are no limits, we have a project with specific goals and they rely on us being aggressive” (20 MINUTES, 10/18).
