“I was a broken player, and Marseille trusted in me. It was difficult for me to even get up in the morning to go to training, because things were just not going well for me. Marseille really took a gamble. The coach called me at 4 a.m., on FaceTime. He was wearing his pajamas and smoking. He said: ‘Tim, you’ve got to come here. You’ll see, this is your home.’ And when I arrived at the airport, I was greeted as if I was home.”

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Paul Kennedy is the Editor in Chief & General Manager of Soccer America.