Cisse bid rejected

Marseilles have rejected an approach from Manchester City
for Djibril Cisse, the forward. The former Liverpool striker has been linked
with a return to the Premier League in the January transfer window after failing
to secure a regular starting role with the French club this season.
"He is
wanted, that is for sure," Pape Diouf, the Marseilles president, said. "I myself
have been approached by Manchester City [about Cisse] but I turned it down
categorically."
"I want to be clear - Djibril Cisse will not leave. He will
stay at OM until the end of the season," Diouf said. "I have always wanted to
rediscover the Djibril that we signed, the efficient Djibril.
"With
everything that he has had to endure, read, see and hear, I understand that it
piles the pressure on him to leave, having been contacted by an English club
that is among the leading teams in their league.
"But when he and myself
discussed this, he understood my position - he understood that I will not let
him leave and he has no problem with me."

-The Times.

After the speculation in recent weeks linking us to all and sundry, we finally have some concrete news in the way of transfers and possibly not the striker that most fans were hoping to see.

Personally, I can see the logic in the attempt to sign Cisse, given that I think he, or perhaps the type of player he is, would fit ideally into the 4-5-1 formation adopted by Sven for virtually all of the season so far.

As I wrote after the West Ham game, I feel we are lacking the type of player up front who offers that presence up front and Cisse does possess the type of power and pace that the lone striker role demands.

The downside on him is that he has largely been inconsistent since arriving at Liverpool from Auxerre - although his career there was punctuated by a couple of serious injuries, and you never got the feeling he was a Benitez type player.

Cisse I feel would be keen on the move, and although there is no word from the club regarding the rejected bid (as the club have maintained a stony silence on all transfer speculation) it will be interesting to see if this is the end of the matter, or rather as I expect with the Anelka to Chelsea transfer, just the first stage before a higher bid is tabled.