Marseille releases documentary last season, reviewing the training ground conflict between coach Dezelby and player Conne

August 5th News Marseille Club released the moment when coach Dezelby confronted midfielder Ismail Conne on the training ground last season.

Dezelby led Marseille to the runner-up of the Ligue 1 in the 2024-25 season, ensuring a return to the Champions League. Marseille released a documentary series that chronicles Dezelby's first season in coaching the club.

The latest episode shows a gunpowder-smelling moment in the season, with Dezelby and midfielder Ismail Cone being pulled away by his teammates on the training ground.

The screen shows that Cone was interrupted during training, and the angry Dezelby shouted, "My God, I said to reduce the touch, reduce the touch."

"Can't kick, go take a shower. Go take a shower, Ismail, we are the Marseille club."

When Cone walked away, Dezelby repeatedly shouted at him, "Call your agent, call your agent, and let him come here."

You can see Cone turn around and respond to this sentence. Dezelby shouted "Go in", and Cone responded, "I said nothing."

Coaching staff members and players ran over and stood between Conne and Dezelby to stop the strife.

Dezelby said in the documentary that the gap in level between Conne's level is "too big" for playing for Marseille, saying: "He is one of the most promising players in the Marseille club, but he doesn't always perform well. His condition is too big, which is not suitable for a player ready to play for Marseille."

Conne is the first player signed after Dezelby took over the Marseille last summer, with the player transferring from Watford for £15 million. Just 6 months after joining, Cone was loaned to Rennes, the French Ligue 1 team after playing in 8 league games.

Marseille sports director Medi Benatia added: "At that moment, Cone got it, what can I say, he got it. He was not a bad boy, he was not a bad boy."

"He came to Marseille and I don't think he realized that when he came from Watford, the Marseille club was not at the second level, but at the fifth level. Maybe he thought it would be easy, we told him a lot of times, 'You need to do more, Ismail, you need to do more'. There were some comments like that day, not knowing who is right and who is wrong. They quarreled afterwards."

"I was on the sidelines and tried to do the same thing, 'Go to the locker room, come to my office, and we'll talk about what you want to do'. 'You don't react well, the coach may not speak nicely to you, don't worry, I'm not trying to blame anyone. I have a question, what are you turning back for?' For me, things should never go to that point."

"I'm sorry, I really like Ismail, but unfortunately he didn't understand what Marseille means."

Training footage also shows Dezelby walking towards Jonathan Love and asking him if Cone is serious in training. "This is one of the most tense moments of the season, and I will not comment because I worry about being called to the locker room," said Jonathan Loway. "The players may be shocked by the conflict, but I have been accustomed to it for 30 years in football." Conne finally scored against Marseille, but Rennes, who was in the game, lost 2-4. Since then, he left the club on loan for one season + buyout option and joined Sassuolo.