Coach Roberto De Zerbi has left Marseille “by mutual agreement”, the French club said early on Wednesday, days after they were thrashed 5-0 by bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain.
The 46-year-old Italian, who had been in charge since the summer of 2024, has been linked with a return to the Premier League.
Marseille crashed out of the Champions League last month and were well beaten at PSG on Sunday to leave them fourth in Ligue 1.
After days of speculation about his future, a club statement read: “Following discussions between all stakeholders in the club’s management — the owner, president, director of football, and coach — it was decided to make a change at the helm of the first team.
“This was a difficult collective decision, taken after careful consideration in the best interests of the club, in order to respond to the sporting challenges of the end of the season.”
De Zerbi had taken training on Monday and Tuesday as normal but a source told AFP that following a meeting between him and club bosses, everyone agreed to part ways.
“A change of approach was necessary to ensure we reach our objectives at the end of the season, notably qualification for the Champions League,” the source said.
De Zerbi took Marseille to second, behind PSG, in the league last season.
They got off to a good start this term, moving to the top of the league with a 6-2 win over Le Havre in mid-October.
At the end of November, following a 5-1 victory at Nice, they were second, only two points behind PSG.
But they have won just three of their last eight league matches and are 12 points behind the reigning champions and three behind Lyon in the last automatic Champions League qualification place — fourth place would mean heading into a play-off to reach the league league phase.
Even more damaging, though, were the back-to-back 3-0 defeats — at home to Liverpool and then away to Club Brugge — to end their Champions League campaign.
They missed out on the knock-out stages on goal difference after Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s last gasp goal against Real Madrid allowed the Portuguese side to leapfrog them in the table.
De Zerbi himself said a few weeks ago that he had “no explanation” for his side’s inconsistent form.
“If I had the solution to this inconsistency, I would find it whatever the price,” he said.
He arrived in southern France following a successful two-year stint at Premier League Brighton, where he took them to sixth in his first season.
Before that he coached the Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
Marseille have now gone through six full-time coaches in the last four years.
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