Marseille are bidding to fight fire with fire to combat the rise of bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain.

 

The capital club are now in the hands of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and have spent lavishly in an attempt to dominate French football and also take a place at Europe’s top table.

 

The likes of Javier Pastore, Kevin Gameiro and Diego Lugano have all been bought, with Leonardo installed as sporting director and a big name arrival for the dugout consistently mooted.

 

PSG are even expected to snap up David Beckham soon, while an attempt is also being made for Carlos Tevez.

 

Marseille have watched on with envy, although Didier Deschamps’ men did secure a measure of success by beating PSG 3-0 at the Stade Velodrome recently.

 

But in the long term Marseille know it is cold hard cash that is needed to battle PSG.

 

And it is for this reason that the Ligue 1 giants have sent representatives to Saudi Arabia.

 

Marseille hope to present themselves as a possible investment option in the Middle East and the first stop in their tour has been in Jeddah.

 

There the representative met a Saudi prince with close ties to the royal family, and who also holds an interest in investing in football.

 

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