Former Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas has lifted the lid on the explosive Stade Velodrome row triggered by the signing of Olivier Ntcham from Celtic.
The Ligue 1 side signed the former Manchester City youth on a six-month loan on the winter deadline day last season but he failed to impress, making just four appearances.
None of those came under Portuguese boss Villas-Boas — who sensationally quit after Ntcham was signed without his approval.
Morgan Sanson's departure to the English Premier League had left him with a creative hole in midfield and OM transfer chiefs opted to move quickly.
But the manager was incensed when he woke up to the news and that led to a month-long contract wrangle to allow his departure.
Ntcham has since returned to Parkhead and his future is up in the air after a move to AEK fell through.
Speaking to The Athletic, Villas-Boas said: “One of the things we had between us was we will never sign a player without the full acceptance of the coach.
"And we reach January and we had an offer for one of our midfielders (Morgan Sanson) from Aston Villa.
"And the targets we had we kept missing them because they weren’t available or they were overpriced or when we came in we were too late. And suddenly there are no more options left.
"So the next day I wake up and we’ve signed Ntcham. Ntcham!
"I didn’t say yes to Ntcham. We had no conversation of me saying yes to Ntcham. So I go. And then the battle becomes compensation.
"We had a one-month battle to reach an agreement for me to leave for nothing, which is what I had proposed to them in the first place.”
