French club Marseille have terminated the contract of centre-back Adil Rami after he missed a training session without the club’s permission last season to feature on a French reality TV show, sources have told ESPN FC.
Rami, an unused substitute on France’s 2018 World Cup-winning squad, had said he received permission from previous club manager Rudi Garcia to appear on the show “Fort Boyard,” in which celebrities take part in bizarre challenges in order to win money for charity.
Rami, 33, says that he texted Garcia to let him know of his plans but Marseille say the player made a mistake by not reporting for training on May 20. Rami was injured at the time and was supposed to have rehabilitation work on that day. Instead, the club argues that he risked worsening his injury by taking part on the reality show without their official permission.
The drama continued for Rami after he attended a fashion show in Monaco instead of attending Marseille’s home match against Montepellier a few days after his reality show appearance.
Marseille fired Garcia in June, replacing him with former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas. Rami was left out of the club’s preseason tour and has since been training on his own in Cannes. Marseille opened up the Ligue 1 season last week with a 2-0 loss at home to Reims.
Sources have told ESPN FC that Rami’s lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get a severance package, adding that the player plans to take his case to a labour court and sue Marseille on grounds of unfair dismissal.
The former Milan and Sevilla defender retired from international football following France’s triumph in Russia.