André Villas-Boas offers to resign as Marseille coach over signing of Ntcham

André Villas-Boas has announced that he had offered to resign, citing a disagreement over the Ligue 1 club signing Olivier Ntcham from Celtic against his wishes.

Ntcham completed a loan move from Scotland on Monday, but at a remarkable news conference a day later, Villa-Boas said it had prompted him to hand in his notice.

“I submitted my resignation saying that I did not agree with the sporting policy,” he said. “I don’t want anything from OM. I don’t want money.”

Villas-Boas, who said last month he would leave when his contract expired at the end of the season, confirmed he had not heard back from the club. “The board has not answered to me yet. What happened last weekend has nothing to do with it,” he added, referring to Saturday’s incidents in Marseille, where some fans broke into the club’s training centre amid protests against club president Jacques-Henri Eyraud.

“I’m waiting for an answer, it could be no and then we would continue. I don’t want any money, I just want to leave. We ended the transfer window with a new player [Olivier Ntcham]. He is a player that I had said ‘no’ for.”

Marseille, who were knocked out in the group stage of the Champions League, are ninth in Ligue 1, 16 points behind leaders Lille albeit with two games in hand on seven of the teams above them.

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“The results – it’s my fault. I’m very upset. But if there’s something you cannot touch, it’s my professionalism,” Villas-Boas said. “I cannot accept this. This club has already been through a couple of messy years in terms of transfers.”

Marseille travel to RC Lens on Wednesday. “I’m focused on Lens. We continue until the board lets me go,” said Villas-Boas, who joined the club in 2019