Marseille director in stunning U-turn as Ethan Nwaneri impact explained

Marseille chief Medhi Benatia will remain at Marseille after reversing his resignation with that decision likely to benefit Ethan Nwaneri

Medhi Benatia has performed a dramatic U-turn and will continue at Marseille mere days after announcing his departure. The French side's sporting director, who was reportedly key to the loan signing of Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri, made his exit official on Sunday, but club owner Frank McCourt has since declared he will be staying.

After the 2-2 draw against Strasbourg, the 38-year-old revealed via Instagram that he would be leaving the club, having handed in his resignation before Roberto De Zerbi's departure.

Nevertheless, McCourt, through a press release, has confirmed he is going nowhere and will take on expanded duties that will see him managing "the entirety of sporting activities."

It has been a turbulent and somewhat catastrophic few weeks for Marseille and thus particularly Nwaneri, with back-to-back 3-0 defeats in the Champions League seeing them finish outside the top 32. The Gunners academy graduate was unable to play in either of those games having featured for Arsenal earlier in the league stage.

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Nwaneri has been eligible in Ligue 1 matches, but since making a huge impact on his debut, Marseille's results have been mixed. Their latest defeat was a 5-0 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain before surrendering a two-goal advantage against Strasbourg, with Nwaneri an unused substitute.

Fan protests have also occurred in recent days, with De Zerbi's departure and the apparent lack of clear direction prompting supporters to boycott the opening moments at the Stade Velodrome this past weekend. Benatia's continuation could provide some much-needed stability to the club, particularly as they search for a new manager.

Though the now-departed De Zerbi was the driving force behind Arsenal choosing Marseille for Nwaneri, Benatia was also important to the negotiations alongside club president Pablo Longori.

Getting regular minutes was the reason for Nwaneri's temporary switch being sanctioned but two injuries in midfield would have likely seen him feature over the last few weeks.

When asked if he had any Nwaneri regrets after Mikel Merino and Kai Havertz blows, Mikel Arteta responded: "[Laughs] That's easy to say. After making the decision, who could have predicted that Mikel was going to be out for five months and Kai?

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"It's unfortunate, at the end we have to make the decisions on the moment, understanding the context there, and the best decision for the club, for Ethan, for sure it was for him to go and experience a different environment, have minutes played, and getting ready to come back to us."

Due to those injury blows, alongside Riccardo Calafiori pulling out of the FA Cup fourth round tie against Wigan Athletic, Bukayo Saka was deployed in a central area. Myles Lewis-Skelly was due to start there but had to return to left-back because of Calafiori's absence.