Olympique Marseille desperate to renew Alexis Sanchez

Marseille have offered Chile's Alexis Sanchez a renewal with an improved financial terms in order to secure his continuity after the end of his contract, the club's Spanish president Pablo Longoria announced on Monday.

"Alexis has been an exemplary leader and has had an excellent season from a statistical point of view. That has made us decide to offer him to continue," Longoria said at a press conference to discuss the season that has just ended and the goals to prepare for next season.

The 34-year-old Sanchez scored 18 goals and provided three assists in a total of 44 games last season, during which Marseille finished third in the Ligue 1 and will play in the Champions League qualifiers.

Longoria said that Saudi Arabia is approaching many players to try to sign them with the lure of "making a lot of money", but said that the Chile international "has found a place here where he feels loved and respected". He added that they have spoken to Sanchez's agent but declined to give details of figures, "because it would not be respectful" to the player.

Sanchez, who has a long career that has taken him to River, Barcelona, Arsenal and Manchester United among other clubs, arrived at the start of last season from Inter Milan.

On the other hand, the Olympique Marseille president gave no clues as to who might be the team's next coach after the departure of Croatian Igor Tudor, who arrived just before the start of the season following the sudden departure of Argentine Jorge Sampaoli due to his differences with the club's management.

"For the coach, there is no need to rush into things. We need to find the right profile," he limited himself to saying, but he did say that, if it is a foreigner, he "will not accept" that he does not speak French at the end of the season.