Cantona: Eric’s ill-fated Marseille homecoming

While Marseille were pulled into an engrossing title race, Eric would face playing a supporting role as opposed to the main man this time round. Cantona was a fiery personality and though it spurred him to roaring success on the pitch, it caused ripples off it. 

“Eric has always had a very strong personality,” said former Marseille teammate Bruno Germain. 

“He trained with great joy, wanted to work and always aimed to progress and develop himself. He had to, because we had an excellent team and competition was hard and fierce.

“When he arrived the club were starting to bloom and develop big ambitions – Eric’s signing showed that. Everybody felt he could do something great at Marseille because he was talented, but there was a lot of pressure and expectation on him.”