Trained at PSG and passed through Lille before joining Juve, the son of the old Ballon d’Or George Weah arrives in Marseille in the form of a loan with option to buy.
A weah can hide another. After George Weah in the 2000-01 season, that is to say at the end of the 1995 Ballon d’Or career, at the turn of his son, Timothy Weah, to commit in favor of OM. It’s official. Trained at Paris Saint-Germain, the young (25 years old) International American (44 selections, 7 goals) arrives on the Canebière in the form of a paid loan with purchase option from Juventus, where he is under contract until 2028.
«Timothy Weah has the flame. The one who does not dazzle, but who lights up her way with humility and determination. Far from being in the shadows, he has become a discreet light, but to him and determined to make a name for himself», It is explained this Wednesday evening in a press release with poetic accents, on the OM website. And to add: “He could have flee the shadow. Leave the surname behind him, turn his back on the ball and build his own life elsewhere. But damn it cannot lie and Timothy Weah chose football, in full light, with the name of a king: George. Because when we are the son of the only African golden ball in history, each call, each control, each strike looks at the magnifying glass».
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Timothy Weah at OM, it is the conclusion of a long soap opera, made of multiple twists and turns. If the Marseille club quickly got along with the former Celtic player (2019) and Lille (2019-23), arrived in Marseille on Tuesday, it was (much) longer to find an agreement with Juve.
Option to purchase compulsory, if …
What agreement? The Italian club reveals the contours in a press release. OM will already have to pay a check for € 1 million for the paid loan. The rest is a purchase option that will become mandatory “If certain conditions are met during the 2025-26 season. The amount agreed for the final transfer amounts to 14.4 million euros, payable over four years; This amount can be increased, over the duration of the player’s registration contract, in an amount not exceeding 4.1 million euros, subject to the achievement of certain sports objectives». Clearly, the transfer of Timothy Weah could cost up to € 19.5 million €.
It seems that the option is in fact only a way to repel the final purchase of the New York native for OM. Indeed, Juventus considers that “Given the high probability of achieving the aforementioned conditions, this transaction, from an accounting point of view, perhaps qualified as final transfer for the current financial year, generating a positive economic impact of around 6 million euros, net of accessory costs, over the current year».
Timothy Weah played 78 games with the old lady (7 goals, 7 assists), 107 with Lille (8 goals, 8 assists), 17 at Celtic (4 goals, 1 decisive pass) and six at Paris Saint-Germain (2 goals), where he had known a certain Adrien Rabiot. This is the sixth recruit of OM this summer after Igor Peaceão (Feyenoord), Facundo Medina (Lens), Angel Gomes (Lille), CJ Egan-Riley (Burnley) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Al-Qadsiah).