Maxime Lopez does not sound like a man desperate to join Tottenham Hotspur or Aston Villa, admitting that he would prefer to sign an extended contract with Marseille instead.
Of course, that decision may be out of the little midfielder’s hands.
L’OM are under pressure to raise around £100 million in player sales this summer to avoid potential Financial Fair Play sanctions (Le10 Sport).
And given that Lopez has just 12 months remaining on his current deal, one of the first names on Andre Villas-Boas’s team-sheet could be sacrificed for the greater good.
The Daily Star reported in April that Jose Mourinho was keen on the idea of bringing the 22-year-old to Spurs, with Lopez exactly the kind of tempo-setting ‘number six’ that the north London giants are currently missing.
West Ham were also linked with a player who could be available for just £10 million. ArenaNapoli claimed two months ago that Aston Villa had made a bid too.
But Lopez has not given up hope of extending his stay at a club he joined at the age of just 12.
“I have a year left on the contract,” he says during a Twitch Live session.
“I would like to extend it for sure, but the ball is not in my court. I am happy in Marseille, I was born here, I live here. I have everything here.”
Marseille qualified for the Champions League after a seven-year absence under Villas-Boas this season and Lopez is desperate to represent his boyhood club at the top table of European football, admitting that the famous anthem would send ‘shivers’ down his spine at the Stade Velodrome.
But the Lopez may be forced to sacrifice his personal ambitions for the good of his club.
“He always had this outstanding natural talent at his age and for his stature,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane once told Goal of Lopez.
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