Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi likened the explosive dressing room brawl between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe to a ‘bar fight’.
Both players were swiftly placed on the transfer list after the physical altercation, which occurred following the club’s 1-0 defeat by Rennes in their Ligue 1 opener.
The hosts had secured all three points in stoppage time despite being reduced to 10 men on the half-hour mark, and tempers boiled over in the visitors’ camp post-match.
Club president Pablo Longoria admitted that the incident was ‘extremely violent’ and ‘something I have never encountered before,’ while De Zerbi has made no secret of the fact that Rabiot and Rowe will be sold because of their roles in the fracas.
Rowe appears to have already found himself a new club and is in talks with Bologna while Daily Mail Sport understands Rabiot, 30, has been offered to potential suitors.
‘I ask you this. What happens if, at your workplace, two people, two employees, two workers, two lawyers, get into a fight?’ De Zerbi told reporters in France.
Roberto De Zerbi likened the brawl between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe to a ‘bar fight’
Rabiot, 30, has been placed on the transfer list and offered to clubs
England U-21 winger Rowe was also told to leave and has held talks with Italian club Bologna
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‘It was a bar fight, in front of the sporting director, in front of the coach, with a team-mate on the ground (Darryl Bakola, who had reportedly fainted).’
De Zerbi, who took the job shortly after leaving Brighton in 2024, was appalled by the scale of the violence, saying it shocked those also in the changing room.
‘It’s true that no teeth were broken during the fight, but it was a fight like I’ve never seen in all my years in football,’ added De Zerbi.
‘For the first time in my career, I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I’ve never seen anything like it. I come from the streets, I’m used to fights.
‘But I’ve never seen anything like this. The club’s bodyguards were trying to separate them. Normally they’re supposed to protect us from others, not from ourselves.’
Rabiot’s mother, Veronique, described the decision to transfer-list the midfielder as a ‘betrayal’ and compared the situation to Mason Greenwood’s arrival at the club.
However, De Zerbi was quick to bite back at her comments, responding: ‘The mother has forgotten two things. I decided to make him captain… and in one year, I gave her son more attention and affection than I did my own son.
‘For Rabiot’s mother to say that we gave Greenwood a second chance, that’s crazy. We’re talking about private life here.
Rabiot’s mother Veronique (centre) said the decision to axe the midfielder was a ‘betrayal’
She also compared the situation to Mason Greenwood’s (right) arrival at the club
‘It’s not fair to talk about other people. We’re talking about a workplace fight.’
Rabiot, formerly of PSG, joined Marseille last September after leaving Juventus as a free agent, and he has scored 10 goals in his 32 appearances for the club.
He has also been capped 53 times by the French national side.
Rowe, an Under-21 international for England, signed from Norwich on an initial loan in August 2024, before the move was made permanent last summer.
The 22-year-old scored three goals in 31 matches for Marseille.