Pau López left Roma in July on loan to Olympique de Marseille. The Spanish goalkeeper was one of Mourinho’s discards as soon as he arrived at the Italian team’s bench. Nothing looked good for Pau. Clearly, it was not a transfer to be a starter, rather to occupy the bench.
The Spanish goalkeeper sought his life. He came to Ligue 1 to be the substitute for Steve Mandanda, an institution. Olympic legend. Well, fate has been capricious, so much so that now Pau López is the undisputed owner of Sampaoli and it is shining for all of Europe. “Pau is in a good moment. It helps the defense a lot with the recovery: it puts pressure on the rival and gives us a numerical superiority at the start of the action. He played many games, that helps the competition”, the coach admitted recently.
The arrival of Pau López was a Jorge’s personal request, that he had asked for a goalkeeper with good footwork and the former Betis player fits like a glove with the Argentine coach. Now, with only half a season played, Marseille will make the purchase option for the Spanish goalkeeper. He will pay the 12 million euros to Roma and will keep the player in property. It is because Pau has already participated in 20 clashes (he has 26 at the moment, with 27 goals in favor and 12 games unbeaten) with his new shirt, so he will stay in France until 2026.
Pau López will go down in Marseille history forever. He is the goalkeeper who has been able to topple the legend. Mandanda has more than 500 games with the Marseille club behind him. At 27 of him, the one from Girona has a long way to go…