"Playing for second place frustrates me, I wanted OM to win the league"

Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli said he left Olympique Marseille in July 2022 because he found the club's ambition was not similar to his own, going against claims by president Pablo Longoria that this was not the reason for his departure.
"For me, the project had to be more ambitious. I wanted Marseille to win the league," the 63-year-old, currently without a club following his departure from Flamengo, said in an interview published on Wednesday by the daily 'L'Équipe'.
"Playing for second place frustrates me and, although it seems out of reach, with OM I wanted to aim higher," he said of Paris Saint-Germain's dominance in French football.
Sampaoli, who arrived at the club in March 2021 after the departure of Portuguese coach Andres Vilas-Boas, managed to qualify for the Europa League in his first half-year and finish second in the championship the following year.
The Argentinian coach said that the arrival of the Spaniard Javier Ribalta as sporting director meant a change in the transfer policy that ended up convincing him that "it would be very difficult, that it was no longer the same project". "As I was very fond of the president and the owner, I opted to leave. I know myself, I'm very obsessive and I would have been more frustrated than happy," said the former Argentina coach.
The coach assures that he does not regret his departure, but he does "not have managed to convince the owner or Pablo Longoria to move forward".