Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Didier Drogba, Samir Nasri sales not in Marseille probe, says Pape Diouf

Former Marseille president Pape Diouf has told RMC he was not asked about the transfers of Samir Nasri and Didier Drogba from the Ligue 1 club after being arrested by police.

Along with current OM president Vincent Labrune, Diouf was among a number of figures linked to the club arrested on Tuesday as part of an investigation into alleged illegal payments made on transfers, notably that of Andre-Pierre Gignac from Toulouse to Marseille in 2010.

The moves of Drogba to Chelsea in 2004, in which Diouf was involved as an agent, and that of Nasri to Arsenal in 2008 when he was president were also part of the police probe, according to French media.

However, after being released from custody without charge on Wednesday, Diouf explained that neither transfer had been mentioned during questioning.

"Neither Samir Nasri's transfer, of which I will have the opportunity to talk about and re-talk about definitively, nor the transfer of Drogba, because it seems that was talked about in the press too, nor of anything at all," he said. "Nothing I did in the past was talked about.

"The only questions which I was asked were questions to help them understand things: how can you manage a club? How do you make a transfer happen? How do you sign a contract? How do you extend it?"

All those arrested have now been released without charge.

Diouf feels police, who initially opened their investigation into the matter in 2011 and raided the club's training ground offices in January last year, acted over-zealously in arresting him and keeping him in custody.

"I think they could have asked me to come in, asking on which day I was available. That shows you just how far the questions I was asked were to help their understanding, and not to pin me down or reproach me for anything at all. I wasn't accused of anything.

"In the police officers' behaviour and way of talking, I felt that they believed they could get nothing out of me, or rather that I had absolutely nothing to do with any illegal action.

"This is a time when you say that everything you do in your life, with one single decision, you are sullied. That is what hurt me most, what tore me up the most and what will lead me to say what I think. I am not one of those that says you have to let justice run its course. I don't like that sort of cliche.

"I respect the justice system, but in this case, the institution made a complete mess, because as far as I am concerned, I was accused of nothing. Not a single thing."

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