Marseille owner warns club sale may take years

Olympique de Marseille's majority owner, billionaire businesswoman Margarita Louis-Dreyfus attends a news conference in the Velodrome Stadium in Marseille, France, August 4, 2016. Reuters/Philippe Laurenson

Olympique de Marseille's majority owner, billionaire businesswoman Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, has said it could take years to sell the Ligue 1 club.

Louis-Dreyfus, the Russian-born chairwoman of Louis Dreyfus Commodities trading house, said in April that she was looking for a buyer for Marseille.

Asked on Thursday how long the process could take, she replied: "I don't know how long it will take. Maybe some months or some years."

"As I said in April, I have decided to sell OM, but this doesn't mean that I've stopped taking care of the club," she added in a news conference.

"The process of selling the club is underway and ongoing. My priority is not profit, but to find a new owner who will take good care of the club. Potential buyers take considerable time to analyse the complexity of the club."

Louis-Dreyfus took control of the club after the death of her husband Robert in 2009, but despite investing tens of millions of euros in recent years, Marseille could only manage a 13th-placed Ligue 1 finish last term.