Eric Bailly has launched a shocking attack on Manchester United, accusing the club of ‘favouring English players’ rather than choosing teams on merit.
The Ivory Coast international made just four Premier League appearances for the Red Devils last season after falling down the pecking order under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.
At one point, Bailly took to social media to make a plea to start in the defeat at Arsenal in April.
The 28-year-old joined Ligue 1 in the summer moving to Marseille on loan, with a £5 million option to make the transfer away from Old Trafford permanent if the French outfit qualifies for the Champions League.
Bailly, who is preparing to face Tottenham in their opening Champions League game of the season, has seemingly hit out at Harry Maguire, who played regularly ahead of him despite struggling in several games.
‘The club should avoid favouring English players and give everyone a chance,’ Bailly said in quotes carried by The Times.
He said: ‘To be quite honest with you, it’s probably been the toughest 12 months of my career. It’s been tough, it’s been hard and I’m so happy I’ve come out the other end of it now.
The conversation I had, coming out of the Euros squad (with England), was that you’re coming back here (to United) to be the No 1 goalkeeper. I got Covid, then unfortunately no-one followed through with anything they told me.
‘It’s frustrating as well because I turned so many good loans down last summer for that reason and they wouldn’t let me go. To sit there and waste 12 months is criminal, really, at my age. I was fuming.’