- Meola says Weah pushed for a transfer
- Says positional inconsistency is motivation
- مرسيليا a competitive destination with familiar league
With Tim Weah reportedly a transfer target for Olympique Marseille, former USMNT star Tony Meola endorsed the potential move away from يوفنتوس, especially joining a team with دوري أبطال أوروبا aspirations.
“Marseille has spent some money over the last two years,” Meola said on the CBS Sports Golazo America podcast. “This could be a fit… I’m interested to see where Roberto De Zerbi thinks he’s going to play. Does he think he’s going to play as a wing back because he plays in like a 3-4-3? Does he think he’s going to play a little bit higher up the field when he does play with four. Is he a fullback? Is he a winger in that group?
“So maybe and he plays on that right side like a right winger so you know… so it’s a team that has spent some money and over the last couple years have said that they want to compete at the top of the table and be in Champions League.”
Meola noted that Weah appeared to be advocating for the move despite playing significant minutes at Juventus last season.
“It seems like he sort of now pushing for this move,” Meola said. “There’s a couple things that could happen. The messaging he got from Igor Tudor is not the messaging he wanted to hear. He didn’t like the situation he was in last year, where he was every week we’re just trying to figure out where the hell Timothy Weah was going to fit in and where he was going to play.”
Meola suggested that Weah was unhappy at Juventus, and wanted to make a move to what he considers a perfect destination.
“I feel like this is more Timothy Weah talking about he wants to move and all of this stuff – the rumors are that he is interested in moving and that he’s basically spoken to the club about moving,” he said. “I feel like it’s coming more from him, which leads me to believe that he’s just not happy with what’s happening at Juve. It’s just a massive club but I still go back to, it’s a club where he had really good success last year and was on a great pathway until the initial injury albeit with a different manager at the time.
“But it still looked like he was finally settling into a club – remember he won a كأس إيطاليا the year before… So he’s got a لطيف - جيد little history at the club but it just seems like he wants out at Juve and this seems a perfect spot for him.”
Weah signed for Juventus in the summer of 2023 from LOSC ليل, and has since made 78 appearances for the club, contributing to 14 goals across all competitions.
Weah is expected to sign with Olympique Marseille on loan with a €14 million obligation to buy.
