Free since the end of his contract last summer in Lorient, Jérémy Morel (38) announced the end of his long career on Tuesday. With a touch of bitterness against his training club but the pride of such longevity under the colors of Merlus, Marseille, Lyon and Rennes.
An emblematic Ligue 1 defender hangs up his crampons. Jérémy Morel (38) announced his retirement on Tuesday in an interview with The team. The defender, native of Lorient, turns the page after 20 professional seasons and more than 600 matches (589 in club, 13 with the selection of Madagascar) under the colors of Merlus (2002-2011), Marseille (2011-2015), Lyon (2015-2019) and Rennes (2019-2020). He returned to Lorient in 2020 until the end of his contract last summer as a way of coming full circle.
“I am 38 years old, my contract in my training club has ended and I am making the decision to stop, so there is a bit of that, yes, he confides in L’Equipe. I keep despite quite a hint of bitterness, not to have left Lorient, but that no one had the courage to tell me that I would not be renewed. Yet it was as simple as a phone call.
“The most rewarding thing is to have succeeded in imposing myself each time when I was never seen as a winner at the start”
Morel, however, considered continuing his career after a trial at Concarneau (National) last summer, but a small muscle injury made him fear falling back into “the galleys like last season” and forced him to hang up.
“Football brought me a lot of things sportingly, of course, but also humanly, he confides. Sometimes, I discovered unsuspected qualities like this first season in Marseille where I was very criticized. I knew I was already strong in the head but I think I pushed my limits, that year. What I retained in this environment is that if you are not ready to hurt yourself, take hits, then you won’t progress.”
After a long adventure in Lorient, Morel had given new impetus to his career by joining Marseille, then coached by Didier Deschamps, in 2011. On the Canebière, he gleaned his two career titles: the champions trophy in 2011 and the Coupe de la Ligue in 2012. He rubbed shoulders with Marcelo Bielsa (2014-2015) and also discovered the Champions League and the Europa League, two competitions he also played with Lyon during his four seasons in the Rhône. . Morel displays “his pride” to have evolved in these two clubs. “What is most gratifying is to have succeeded in imposing myself each time, to have made a place for myself, when no one ever saw me as a winner at the start”, he concludes.
