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Soccer

Did Marseille president abandon Lucas Silva on the road?

By Charles Ventura FoxSports
Published | Updated
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Hitchhiking

We've heard of crazy stories involving player-owner dustups before but this one certainly takes the cake.

The Brazilian midfielder, on loan with Olympique Marseille from Real Madrid, has struggled settling in with the French outfit this season. In an effort to find a solution, Marseille and Real reportedly struck a deal to ship Silva to Belgian club Anderlecht right before the winter transfer deadline.

Seemed like a great, quick fix at first glance, right? Well, this is where the story takes an unusual twist.

The 22-year-old ultimately refused to leave the Stade Velodrome last week, seemingly making a difficult situation even worse. Marseille owner Vincent Labrune, unpleased over Silva's decision, reportedly took matters into his own hands before the club's Ligue 1 match vs. Montpellier.

According to French newspaper L'Equipe, Labrune allowed Silva to board the team bus ahead of the two-hour, 105-mile ride to Montpellier only to embarrass the ex-Cruzeiro man by forcing him off the bus halfway to their destination in front of his stunned teammates. Talk about cold-blooded!

But wait, it gets better. Silva took to social media on Wednesday and provided a lengthy explanation to the said events:

"On the last day of the transfer window, I was on the bus with the team in order to travel for a match," Silva said on Facebook. "While negotiations were taking place with European clubs."

He added: "I was then told by OM to stay in Marseille because I could travel at any moment as a result of these negotiations. Having said that, I have never been asked to leave the bus as some media vehicles suggested.

"I also take this opportunity to reinforce that I will stay at OM until the end of my contract and will continue to fully dedicate myself to the club. Moreover, I would like to thank the coach and my team mates who have always supported me."

So did Labrune kick Silva off the bus after all? If we're to believe the player, the answer is a resounding no.

But then again, he did leave one name out of his thank yous on Facebook.

H/T L'Equipe