Marseille President Vincent Labrune has confirmed that negotiations with QPR for Joey Barton are at a complete standstill. La Provence are reporting that OM’s attacking midfielder Foued Kadir is refusing to leave.
The President of Marseille had this to say regarding the transfer situation of Joey Barton, confirming that the signing of Gianelli Imbula has not changed their supposed pursuit:
‘The two players have nothing to do with each other. We like Joey and we offered him a contract in May to prolong the adventure with us here. We can say this all we want, but there is another club who have to agree, that is, QPR.’
Whether or not this is strictly the truth is hard to tell. We were told that the player would absolutely not sign for Marseille this transfer window, as they could not deal with Barton’s wage demands. The problem with this deal at the moment is that for Barton to accept a move to Marseille, he would have to take a sizeable wage cut.
The player has no intention of doing so and has therefore demanded that QPR pay him compensation until the end of his contract with the R’s. Obviously, QPR have no intention of doing so and would much rather offload the player straight out, hence why a move to Turkey (Besiktas) would be more attractive for the newly relegated Championship side.
Meanwhile, a recruit that Labrune brought only at the beginning of this year is being rumoured away from the club. Ex-Valenciennes attacking midfielder Foued Kadir is refusing to leave Marseille despite the attempts of OM representatives to show him out of the door claim La Provence.
The player has been linked with Rennes, although despite common belief, no meaningful discussions have actually taken place.
