Olympique de Marseille is quite far from a good standing in the current season, and one hole that the club needs to plug real soon is on defense. To address the problem, OM manager Andre Villas-Boas is already hunting for a suitable transfer target in the coming winter. Reports said the Marseille boss is likely tapping Carlos Salcedo from Mexico.
At present, the Mexican defender is part of the Tigres de Gignac and plays alongside Andre-Pierre Gignac. The latter is a Marseille legend, so he might put in the good words for Salcedo to consider a European stint anew.
Salcedo found success while playing for Eintracht Frankfurt and Fiorentina, and is highly regarded for his versatility, according to BeInSports.com. His reputation clearly precedes him, and likely what caught the attention of Villas-Boas.
Per the same report, OM had already reached out to Salcedo though details have not been provided. It was suggested, though, that Villas-Boas and Salcedo have already a conversation on the matter.
There were speculations in 2018 that Salcedo had been on the radar of OM, but nothing came out of it, most likely because of an ankle injury that forced him to return to Mexico.
In a report, Football Club de Marseille confirmed that Villa-Boas had indeed made contacts with Salcedo, and the information was supposedly furnished by a source privy to the business dealings of the Mexican defender.
If true that Marseille will sign up Salcedo next year, the same report said the Mexican will prove to be a great addition to the club.
"Carlos Salcedo is a right-handed center defender, who can play as a right-back and even help out as a left-back," said the report, adding that the football world first came to know Salcedo via the World Cup hosted by Russia.
The news of Villa-Boas having an interest in signing up Salcedo came as OM continues to struggle with the absence of regular players. When the club faced Amiens in Ligue 1 last week, five incumbents were not present, which contributed to Marseille succumbing to a 3-1 defeat.
With the loss, OM now languishes in sixth place or five behind current leader Paris Saint-Germain. Out of the nine games that the Marseille squad had played so far, they only managed to register 13 points, ESPN reported.
As the former European champ stumbled to defeat after another, Villa-Boas took responsibility and admitted the failings were due to his shortcomings.
"It's my fault. Maybe with the way I do things, I gave the players too much information," Sport24 report the OM manager as saying.
