Three keepers, two of them have never played
Jeffrey de Lange. Jelle Van Neck. Theo Vermot. Those are the three goalkeepers Marseille have named in their Europa League squad.
The first has more than 70 professional games under his belt. The second has never played a competitive match. The third has two Ligue 3 appearances for Orleans. And there will be no adding another keeper later in the campaign.
Bruno Genesio has every reason to hope de Lange stays upright until February.
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A summer window that came and went without a single arrival
Nothing like it has happened in the club’s modern history. Not one signing across the entire 2026 summer window. While rivals strengthened, Marseille watched the moves pass them by, trapped between DNCG demands and the need to trim the wage bill.
The club did not just fail to buy. It sold. Around a dozen departures were logged this summer, leaving whole positions exposed. Quinten Timber moved to Crystal Palace. Iliman Ndiaye and Jonathan Rowe had already gone. The list kept growing week after week.
What is left is a senior squad that can no longer even fill a European list.
Fifteen names from La Commanderie, and not one of them for show
On paper, the core of the A list still looks strong. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Amine Gouiri, Igor Paixao, Nayef Aguerd, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Angel Gomes, Timothy Weah. Tochukwu Nnadi, at one point under threat from a serious injury, is there too.
Behind them, the academy is plugging the gaps. Fifteen players from La Commanderie have been registered on the B list. Keyliane Abdallah, Max Corbon, Tadjidine Mmadi, Nouhoum Kamissoko, Hilan Hamzaoui, Mathis Clement and the rest. At Marseille they call them the kids. This time they are not there to make up the numbers.
The first fixture lands on 17 September, away at Besiktas. A trip to Istanbul, an atmosphere that gives nothing away, and a squad nobody yet knows can last the pace across a whole league phase.
Genesio is going to have to improvise. He has known that since 1 September.
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