Written by Ross Mackiewicz
Marseille coach Didier Deschamps claims that he rejected the opportunity to take over the Liverpool hot seat prior to the eventual appointment of Roy Hodgson. The French World Cup winning captain is currently preparing his French champions in London ahead of their Champions League group stage clash with Chelsea – a club he played for at the turn of the decade winning an FA Cup in the process.
He expressed his pleasure at being touted as Rafael Benitez’s replacement at Anfield due to the enormity and prestige of the club – but ultimately declined the opportunity to do so due to bad timing. Having come off the back of a wonderful domestic campaign with his current employers Marseille where they clinched their ninth league title and their first in eighteen years, Deschamps felt that it would have been wrong for him to leave the club days before the start of their pre-season preparations.
When the question was put to him during Monday’s press conference, he said.
“Yes, it’s true and I was very proud that a club like Liverpool were interested in me. But the timing was not good. I was engaged with Marseille, the players and the fans, and I could not leave them two days before the restart of pre‑season.”
“I was extremely pleased and happy with Liverpool’s approach but I decided to stay and continue my adventure with Marseille.”
The 41 year old is back at Stamford Bridge where he made a total of 45 appearances in just the one solitary season for The Blues which resulted in an FA Cup triumph against Aston Villa in the spring of 2000.
He also has fond memories of his former home as an adversary as he guided AS Monaco to the final of the competition in 2004 where they quashed Chelsea’s dream of reaching the final in Gelsenkirchen with a 2-2 draw – resulting in a 5-3 aggregate win to take the French outfit through.
