Olympique Marseille make Jonathan De Guzman inquiry

For most of last season, Napoli fans weren't terribly happy with Jonathan De Guzman. One wonderful three-week spell aside, he was frequently just kind of there, not really involved in play and not helping much when he was getting on the ball. His signing from Villarreal wound up as kind of a vague disappointment, which is actually kind if impressive since it was supposed to be a fairly low-risk move.

Now with Maurizio Sarri in charge of Napoli, a man who doesn't seem to care for low-work rate players and who demands a higher level of commitment, De Guzman has found himself on the fringes of the squad. With Napoli needing to offload a few players in order to keep rebuilding the squad, that also puts him on the transfer market, where an interesting name has cropped up linked to him.

Olympique Marseille manager Marco Bielsa is believed to be very interested in bringing the Canadian-born Dutch international into his squad. Apparently Bielsa feels that De Guzman is a good fit for his pell-mell style of football, and can be a valuable part of his side.

It's worth noting that Marseille have also been linked to another Napoli outcast in Edu Vargas of late, so we could see both players donning Marseille's white-and-baby-blue shirt at the Stade Velodrome before much longer. Here's the catch, though: Marseille are one of several French teams having some financial issues at the moment, so despite finishing fourth and just two points out of a Champions League qualifying place, the nine-time Ligue 1 champions might have a hard time making signing both players work.

Right now, it sounds like maybe De Guzman is Marseille's priority, though that seems a little odd looking at the relative depth of their squad in midfield and up front. Either way, this seems like a rumor we'll be hearing more of in the near future, so perhaps further details will become clear soon.