{"id":2797,"date":"2026-02-09T20:24:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2797"},"modified":"2026-02-09T20:24:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:24:45","slug":"usas-tim-weah-marseille-was-perfect-move-after-juventus-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2797","title":{"rendered":"USA&#039;s Tim Weah: Marseille Was &#039;Perfect&#039; Move After Juventus Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ital ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6\"><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"20px\" src=\"https:\/\/b.fssta.com\/uploads\/application\/external-logos\/goal-dot-com-logo_black.svg\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>U.S. men&#8217;s national team star Tim Weah admits that he was a &#8220;broken player&#8221; when joining Marseille in 2025, with &#8220;getting up in the morning&#8221; proving difficult during a testing spell at Serie A giants Juventus. The USA international, who is the son of Ballon d&#8217;Or-winning AC Milan legend George, feels that he has finally found a home in France where he can put down roots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Weah moved to Turin in the summer of 2023, with Juve paying a little over \u20ac10 million (\u00a39m\/$12m) in order to secure his signature. His versatility was put to good use in Italy, as the Bianconeri asked him to fill a variety with positions, but regular starts were never guaranteed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>The opportunity to head back to Ligue 1 was embraced by the former Paris Saint-Germain and Lille winger in 2025. An initial loan agreement at Stade Velodrome includes an obligation to buy that will be triggered at around \u20ac18 million (\u00a316m\/$21m) in the next transfer window.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Weah is pleased to have escaped Juventus, where he never truly felt comfortable and found it difficult to motivate himself. He has told reporters in France of fully embracing a fresh start: &#8220;When I arrived here, they took on a player who was a bit broken, lacking in confidence. Getting up in the morning was hard for me, going to training. Because things weren&#8217;t going well for me. So they took a chance on me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Weah now claims to feel &#8220;a bit like a Marseillais&#8221;, having been taken to the hearts of a new fan base. He is also enjoying working under enigmatic Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi \u2014 the man that talked him into a bold move.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>The 25-year-old New York native added: &#8220;The coach really believed in me. He called me at four in the morning in my pajamas, on FaceTime. He was smoking, and he said, &#8216;Tim, you have to come here. You&#8217;ll see, this is your home.&#8217; And at the airport, I was received as if I were at home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Having taken in 28 appearances for Marseille, including a history-making outing against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernab\u00e9u in the Champions League, Weah says that he is now hoping &#8220;to stay here for a long time, if I can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Weah has previously told <i>Le Dauphine Libere<\/i> of adjusting to life on the Mediterranean coast: &#8220;I put myself in my own bubble\u2026 but it&#8217;s also a thrill, an honour. Playing in a stadium full for every match, with the shouts of the fans, is special. There aren&#8217;t many similar stadiums in the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>&#8220;I really want to succeed here. In France, all the other clubs, all the other fans are against OM. We are opposed everywhere and I like this aspect of being alone against everyone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Being back in France also means that Weah can return to Paris on a regular basis\u2014a city that saw him step out of the academy system at PSG. He has said of those trips: &#8220;It&#8217;s funny, I run into more OM supporters than PSG supporters in Paris. Every time I go back up there to see friends, I meet OM fans. That&#8217;s also what shocked me. It&#8217;s incredible. We&#8217;re everywhere!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Weah insists that Marseille were the only club he truly connected with after being linked with teams across Europe \u2014 including some in the Premier League \u2014 with a return to France making sense for all concerned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>He said of that decision: &#8220;There were other clubs, but as soon as they [Marseille] called me, there was only one club. For me, it&#8217;s perfect. There&#8217;s competition. We know the stadium and the fans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>His move also has the support of those back home, with USMNT legend Alexi Lalas saying when Weah\u2019s switch was confirmed: &#8220;I think this is a good move for Tim Weah&#8230; I think he and his agent played this well in terms of getting to a place where I think he recognizes he&#8217;s going to have a good chance of playing and where he&#8217;s going to be comfortable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Weah has become that, with three goals and four assists to his name, and is determined to help ensure that Marseille return to the Champions League next season \u2014 with a testing clash against PSG next on the agenda for De Zerbi\u2019s side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY U.S. men&#8217;s national team star Tim Weah admits that he was a &#8220;broken player&#8221; when joining Marseille in 2025, with &#8220;getting up in the morning&#8221; proving difficult during a testing spell at Serie A giants Juventus. The USA international, who is the son of Ballon d&#8217;Or-winning AC Milan legend George, feels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}