Marseille Expels Rabiot, Rowe After Extremely Violent Dressing Room Altercation

Marseille president Pablo Longoria described a post-match dressing room altercation between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe as "extremely violent" and unprecedented in his experience, resulting in both players being expelled from the first-team squad and placed on the transfer list. The incident occurred after Marseille's 1-0 loss to Rennes and reportedly involved a heated exchange where Rabiot accused Rowe of lacking effort, escalating to insults and a physical fight witnessed by the entire squad. Longoria emphasized that the behavior went beyond acceptable limits for any organization, necessitating decisive action to protect the club and its season. Rabiot, who has one year remaining on his contract, has attracted interest from Juventus, Inter Milan, and several Premier League clubs, while Rowe, who joined Marseille from Norwich City last year, is being linked with a return to England with clubs like Leeds United and Sunderland monitoring the situation. The club and coaching staff, including Roberto De Zerbi and Mehdi Benatia, expressed shock at the severity of the incident, underscoring that even in the worst altercations there are usually unspoken rules, which were not observed in this case. Longoria acknowledged the challenge of losing key players but maintained that the club had no choice given the gravity of the incident.