The first one out the gate was Eric Gerets who immediately talked about Modeste M’bami. You see Modeste has been trying his best to make the club let him go, talking about how he would like to “get new experiences” and that with only a year left to his contract, it would be great for the club to let him go and then receive some money in return. We’ve all seen how great Modeste played during the UEFA Cup and there’s definitely going to be a spot for him in the team during the season. After a time of hesitation, the Cameroonian midfielder decided he wanted to stay after all with the possibility to play and shine in the Champions League. The man who practically didn’t rest this summer trained really hard in his old neighborhood with childhood friend Jean II Makoun while the two were down there with the Cameroon selection and playing for the World Cup and African Cup of Nations 2010. After two seasons where he’s had a lot of difficulties getting back to it, notably coming back last season with a few extra pounds, M’bami has decided to earn his spot from the get go and is on the right track to do so. Benoit Cheyrou will have to watch out and fight for his starting position. On another note, M’bami has impressed everyone so much that a contract extension is in the works according to La Provence.

As for Renato Civelli, whose biggest feat so far since he came back is nearly killing Bakary Koné during one of his first practice session, is apparently pretty popular in Italy and newly promoted Bologna is soon to make an offer for the Argentinean centre back. After Eric Gerets told the press that neither Civelli nor Givet would be leaving and after persistent rumors sending Monaco’s ex-Captain to Greece, José Anigo said that with no less than six centre backs (Erbate, Hilton, Rodriguez, Zubar, Givet and Civelli) maybe one of them but not both could leave the club before the end of the Mercato. But Anigo added that they could be recruiting a young defender if one of them does. So we’re still not set on who will be leaving but there’s still more than a month to go.

One spot where there is definitely going to be some recruiting done is at the right-back position. Laurent Bonnart has been one of the breakout stars of our last season and the man who was originally recruited as Taïwo’s back-up is now one of the team’s leaders. Problem is he doesn’t have any back up and neither Givet nor Zubar did the business when they replaced him. So Marseille is looking to recruit someone experimented looking for one last challenge and two names have been circulating lately, Lamine Diatta and David Jemmali.
Jemmali was one of my favorite players at some point and could have played for France but Lizarazu then Sagnol were much better. Some people might tell you how he should have chosen Tunisia in the first place. He could be useful at some point in the season but I think the fact that Laurent Blanc decided not to reconduct his deal says a lot about him. Plus Jemmali is a known hot head and we really don’t need another one of those, especially if it is someone who wouldn’t be playing regularly (à la Cyril Rool when he was playing with us).
About Lamine Diatta, he was the Captain of my beloved Lions during the last African Cup of Nations and his showings were pathetic. After a season like he had in Turkey, it is now obvious that this very limited player should have gone to England when he could have (i.e. after Lyon) and he could be now cruising on his physical abilities in Division One. To sum it all up, none of these players would bring us anything we need, but if there are the only two we are going to get, let’s go with Jemmali. At least he played all of last season and seems to have some football left in him.

Let’s focus now on the two surprises of the list. First of all Karim Ziani. Ziani hasn’t played with us since the fateful Carquefou match and his altercation with Coach Eric Gerets who literally sat him down and never used him again. Ziani could have left, should have left a long time ago but the fact that he hasn’t despite interest from other clubs shows that Marseille is not willing to give up on him yet. All he showed last season was his bad temper and his lack of skills when needed be. Ziani fought Zenden, Nasri, Cissé and Cana. So him still being here shows how open-minded Eric Gerets is about all this. Let’s hope we don’t get too many hotheads in the group and lose track of what’s important.

Now the other, bigger surprise is Djibril Cissé. Everyone believed he would leave and then no one believed he would. After being left of the Domenech’s 23 (which seems to be a benediction these days), the Arlesian gave ONE interview stating his desire to go back to England where his wife lives (why hasn’t she moved to Marseille where the weather is beautiful, I have no idea!) and has been surprisingly mum ever since. He came back quietly, started training and watched strikers pile up while he was sent throughout the United Kingdom after every practice. He didn’t confirm his departure, he just trained. Then the friendlies started and the kid let his skills do the talking. Four goals two assists in 5 games, that’s impressive. Still he hasn’t said anything and after Pape Diouf stated during the Ben Arfa Rounds and the Koné negociations that Cissé would only leave if an incredible offer came our way. But according to Yahoo Sports, Cissé has been proposed to Benfica but refused the portuguese powerhouse, expressing to José Anigo and Pape Diouf his preference for England. So José Anigo came out on Monday in L’Equipe and told that Djibril had ten days to receive a serious offer from England or he would be staying one more season with us, since we wouldn’t have enough time to recruit a quality striker. Anticipating Djibril’s eventual departure, Marseille apparently contacted Barcelona’s Eidur Gudjohnsen who would apparently only be interested if we were playing the Champions league. Nothing has been done yet, everything laying in Djibril’s and the Premiership’s court. The verdict on that will be next week probably.

The Infirmary

Now let’s focus on Mathieu Valbuena. The lilliputian striker didn’t go on vacation to make sure his groin injury healed properly but after all of his vacation spent going back and forth from Marseille to Bordeaux to treat the illness, “The Moped” along with the Marseille staff decided to get an operation and will only be back in six weeks. It’s a pity for someone who was poised to be Samir Nasri’s successor as the playmaker of our team but six weeks is not that far out. He’ll come back to training with his teammates by the end of next week.

Karim Ziani will pass an MRI today as to follow up on the scar recovery of his thigh injury sustained against Nantes ten days ago. According to José Anigo, he’ll be coming back to play pretty quickly.

Benoit Cheyrou didn’t’ train with his teammates on Monday. Touched on his calf just before the Bordeaux game, he stayed with the medical staff. He won’t be ready for the Monaco game in Cannes this wednesday

Captain Lorik Cana resumed training normally after having been let to rest against Bordeaux because of a knee injury. Joining him was Ronald Zubar who was coming back from ankle injury.

Last and definitely least, Marseille has refuted this morning the information sending Chilean super-striker Humberto Suazo to the Vélodrome as said earlier by Chilean newspapers last week. “El Chupete” was a great striker two years ago with , even getting the title of World’s best goal scorer by putting 17 goals in International Compettion. He also is Chili’s best scorer ever, with 51 goals in one year with his club of Colo Colo. But Marseille has not been negociating with him and declared so this morning. he’s now playing with Monterrey in Mexico (Thanks Sam!). The club (Marseille) is said to be surprised by this rumor and has no idea where it comes from. Mexican newspaper El Norte persisted today by saying it was done, signed sealed and pretty much delivered. They’re backing-up their Sunday cover (photo) 100% and cite inside sources. Yeah! I’m going to believe the club on this one. El Norte being the same newspaper that declared Gabriel Batistuta Marseille-bound to replace Fabrizio Ravanelli in 2002.

This morning, during the traditionnal friday morning press conference, our belgian coach was obviously thrilled at the idea of the new recruit and showed his enthousiasm.

“I fought long and hard with José (Anigo) to get this player and I must thank my President and the Staff for this player. If Koné could have the same season with us that he ahd last year with Nice, that would be fantastic! As we know the guy, it won’t take him long to be in top shape. Eevrybody knows his style and his qualities, all we’ll have to work on will be the automatisms in attacking to make sure his skills are well used as was the case in Nice last season.
Koné is a player who moves a lot when he has to and when it’s time to get the ball. He’ll be complementary in the game with Niang, Cissé or Ben Arfa but it will be my job to place them on the field properly. It will be my responsibility. But every coach in france would love to have this responsibility.”

Hooray, I think our Mercato is pretty much done unless one or two mùore players leave.

“We are saddened by the fact that his image is always more credible to you (i.e. the journalists) than what the reality is! If he speaks a little loud, it won’t be wrongly interpreted.”

So the altercation must have happened but I don’t know if it needs to be downplayed or blown up like last year’s alterfcation between Ben Arfa and Squillacci.
This is the first point for the people who were warning us about his temper. But don’t do the “I told you so” dance just yet.

As we speak, the Drogbathon is going strong even though some hackers canged the numbers for two days, making some people belive that more than 50 million euros had been pledged. The real number is a little inferior as there has been 2.5 million pledged as of yet.
Didier Drogba has not given an official statement but his agent, Thierno Seydi (ironically, the man runs Pape Diouf’s ex-business, Diouf having pu his activities as an agent aside to become our President), said to the StarAfric website that Drogba was very touched by the initiative but that it was “pathetic”, showing how french clubs can’t afford his transfer. Seydi added that not only couldn’t they afford his transfer they couldn’t afford his salary neither. This is sad but true (even though with a personal fortune of 10 Billion Euros, SpongeBob could afford it without any problem). Let’s see how much people pledge before Drogba decides where he’s going next week.

As we speak, promises have exceeded 800.000€ in less than a week. We have yet to hear from Didier himself but the man who always vowed to come back to Marseille must be very pleased and touched by such a display of affection. Now there’s ONE man who could easily foot the bill and make EVERYONE happy, and that man is our billionaire owner. He could do it. We should find a way to convince the guy!

If you want to participate, go here.

Arsenal finally gets Samir Nasri.

First of all, the latest news comes from France Football and is certainly not the least important news of the day. Samir Nasri who has been linked with the Gunners for about two months now finally signed with Arsenal. The contract is reportedly for four years and Marseille will receive 17 million euros (a little more than previously announced). After having played 121 games and scored 11 goals in Ligue 1 with Marseille ever since José Anigo threw him in with the big boys in 2004, Samir Nasri has been considered a fan’s favorite at the Vélodrome mainly for his origins but also because he represented the return of the Minots to the forefront (alongside Flamini at the time) and a bright future for the club. I will write a little more about Samir when I get back home to give im the proper send-off but his departure should have happened differently.
Good luck to him.

Bakary Koné still hasn’t signed with us.

Now let’s get updated on the Bakary Koné situation. Baky has voiced some strong feelings on his personal website stating how he was about to leave last season and could have but had a deal with President Maurice Cohen about how Nice wouldn’t get in his way if he wanted to leave this year and wouldn’t be too greedy on the asking price. Apparently, the two parties even came to an agreement on a mention, the now famous “market price” that Nice would ask for. Baky Koné felt betrayed by the Nice staff. They did not feel that way at all. President Cohen was pretty clear in his explanation when he answered his player. He stated that when he wanted to leave last year and was evaluated at 6-8 million by the “market” he already felt he was more of a 10 million player and set the price at that. He also added that after an incredible season (that’s true) and an exceptionnal African Cup of Nations (I’d be less positive about that), he scored 14 goals and was evn classy enough to let Ederson shoot the last penalty in the last matchday to make sure the future Lyon player would have a proper goodbye with his public.

Koné evidently is one of the classiest players out there and his tiff with the Nice wouldn’t ruin his reputaion with the fans over there. Frédéric Antonetti said he would welcome him back with open arms if the deals didn’t go through.

For the moment, Koné is officially injured and Cohen has apparently shut down any possibility of the player going to Marseille this year. Yet Pape Diouf still assured that the negociations were still on. I’m guessing that with Samir Nasri officially gone, the perspective of having Mathieu Valbuena still play on the right side of our attack while Nasri and Ben Arfa were respectively in the playmaking position and on the left side is no longer an option (I know this sounds incredible but in the last two weeks, despite a lot of declarations from all parties involved, there was a wild rumor that with SpongeBob - Owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus - would want to keep Samir one more season. He did it with Ribéry two seasons ago and seemed set on doing it again.). Now with Samir gone, we have enough dough to get this deal done. Let’s not lose another great player for a matter of 500.000 euros, gentlemen.

Let’s now focus a little bit on the infirmary.

I hate this part but we can pretty much pinpoint our poor season start to Mamadou Niang and Samir Nasri’s simultaneous injuries last year at the same time. Both players got injured and Marseille wasn’t really ready until November. Had we had more luck we may hae had been able to bother Bordeaux and Lyon a little more than we did. Anyways, this season, we have some pretty important players already in the infirmary or finally getting out of it.

The saddest news is that André Ayew got injured and won’t partake in the Evian preparation. The young Ghanean international hurt his ankle against Bastia on Saturday. His ankle will heal but I hope his shortened preparation won’t mirror Samir Nasri’s who had trouble looking like himself until March of this year.

Another newbie hurt is fresh new third-keeper Hilaire Munoz who got injured on Thursday morning while ha was training. The third keeper whom I don’t know and haven’t even heard of before (He’s coming from the local club of Cassis, the nearby village where Frank Leboeuf was born and many player live). I didn’t even have the time to seek some informtion on the dude that he’s already sidelined.

Another bad news (I guess it is “technically” bad news), Karim Ziani was pretty badly injured when he tore left-thigh muscle, an injury that could necessitate six weeks of rest. The odd thing is, after the altercation he had last season with Eric Gerets during the Carquefou match, Karim Ziani was supposed to be gone by now. And he’s not. I’ve even seen him exchanging jokes with the coach. So his future is unknown but maybe Gerets will want to keep him. It’s apparently entirely his decision to make.

Someone who will soon be leaving the hands of our doctors and chiropractors is Mathieu Valbuena. Last season’s revelation was injured just before the Strasbourg game and cancelled his vacation to go back and forth from Marseille to Bordeaux and to make sure he would be ready for the Champion’s League preliminary games. After the last MRI scheduled on the 21st, mathieu who is at the moment in Evian with the rest of the team will be fully fit to join his teammates. “The Moped”, as he’s affectionnately called by his coach, will be followed more closely this season. He’s fully aware that his status has changed and that the marseille staff expect him to take over Samir Nasri’s spot behind the strikers. He’ll get a whole new set of responsibilities and will have to be worthy of the trust.

Another key player that is practically out is Julien Rodriguez. The “Boss” missed a lot of games last season and with the new compettion, he’ll be supposed to be the starter, alongside Hilton. He has proven many times before that he’s a world-class defender if he’s healthy. His string of injuries have showed how much weight he’s put on i the past few months and even he confessed to being humiliated twice and won’t want it to happen again. One of the newbies called up by Domenech when Thuram left the French National Team, he’ll have a real challenge, at 28, now that France are seemingly headed into a new direction. People like Didier Deschamps have long said that he deserved to be in the French NT, let’s start by earning back that spot in the Marseille squad.

El Amin Erbate is presented to the press.

While everybody and their third-cousin was focused on Bakary Koné not coming, El Amin Erbate (the right ortograph, I’m sorry I misspelled it all this time) has been presented to the press right before the players and the staff left for Evian and Eric Gerets expressed his fondness of the player and how much he liked his different performances (notably against France and Belgium this past winter) and how much he expected of him. I’ve seen Erbate play a few more times since I heard he was coming and he’s one of those defenders you don’t notice on the pitch because the striker doesn’t get enough time to breathe or to try anything to make him “shine”. He just seems slow but somehow manages to be everywhere just before the forwards can. I’m looking forward to seeing him play with us. If he is half as classy as us as he is with the Morroccan team, let’s just say, he’ll become a fan’s favourite.

La Victoire est à Nous.

Tomorrow marks the tenth anniversary of France winning their World Cup and to celebrate it, France 98 will face an international team of superstars for charity at the Stade de France. All in all, it i no less than 10 ex-Marseille players who will be present on the pitch or on the bench in Saint-Denis: Fabien Barthez, Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly, Franck Leboeuf, Bixente Lizarazu, Alain Boghossian, Didier Deschamps, Robert Pires, Christophe Dugarry and Sonny Anderson.
Add Zidane (he’s an honorary player, being the local hero and all) and that’s an entire team!

France 98 coached by Aimé Jacquet

Keepers : Barthez, Charbonnier, Lama, Ramé
Defenders : Blanc, Desailly, Leboeuf, Lizarazu, Candela, Thuram
Midfielders : Boghossian, Deschamps, Vieira, Djorkaeff, Karembeu, Zidane, Pires, Micoud
Strikers : Dugarry, Guivarc’h, Diomède, Henry, Trezeguet, Anelka, Wiltord

Technically, Ulrich Ramé, Johan Micoud, Nicolas Anelka and Silvain Wiltord are not World Cup winners but special circumstances. Ramé wasn’t the 4th keeper either, Lionel Létizi was. Him and Nico Anelka were part of the 6 players who got kicked out during the night (alongside Sabri Lamouchi, Ibrahim Ba, Martin Djetou and Pierre Laigle. Or was it Tony Vairelles? I always mix these two on this aprticular matter). Wiltord, Ramé and Micoud won the Euro 2000 though so they’re part of the legend too.

World All Stars coached by Arsène Wenger and Hristo Stoïtchkov

Keepers : Vitor Baia (POR), Buffon (ITA), Kameni (CAM)
Defenders : Cocu (HOL), Couto (POR), F. de Boer (HOL), Hierro (ESP), Le Saux (ANG), Song (CAM)
Midfielders: Boban (CRO), Davids (HOL), Jorgensen (DAN), Juninho (BRA), Kharpin (RUS), Litmanen (FIN), Saïb (ALG)
Strikers : Sonny Anderson (BRA), Batistuta (ARG), Figo (POR), Pauleta (POR), Sheringham (ANG), Suker (CRO), Eto’o (CAM)

That’s all for now. I’ll be abck tomorrow morning with some more news about “Drogbathon”, We’ll discuss the first three friendlies we lost and I’ll try to give Samir Nasri his deserved goodbye.

Peace

Cédric Carasso finally left. While it was said for a moment that marseille wanted to include Cédric in the Bakary Koné deal and get the ivorian striker for a bargain, it didn’t happen that way. When the negociations started, Nice was very much in a “position de force” and President Cohen declared that the two deals needed to be separate. So José Anigo and Pape Diouf let Cédric talk with both staffs and the keeper chose Toulouse. That deal had the faculty of pissing people off in Nice where it was felt that marseille didn’t hold up to their part of the deal. Which is why the Bakary Koné deal will certainly be a little more difficult to close up than, say, Hatem Ben Arfa’s.

While Cédric Carasso was going to Toulouse, he was followed by his friend and second Sébastien Hamel who was his “understudy” at Marseille for three seasons. Both of them crossed paths with Nicolas Douchez who left for rennes and Rudy Riou who came to Marseille to replace Sébastien Hamel.
This was particularly emotionnal to see Cédric leave. Say what you will, he had the capacity to become one monster of a keeper if it wasn’t for his inconsistency. His only problem was to have been replaced by the type of player who only comes around once in a generation while he was injured. He really didn’t stand a chance.

Eric Gerets doesn’t want to bother himself with unproven players who would take too long, in his mind, to prove efficient in the Ligue 1 so he picked a few players he could use and some others that he thinks are not cut for the highest level. It was the case of 21 year-old Mehdi Benatia. Mehdi signed with Clermont Foot. The truth is, for the longest time, Mehdi has voiced his disappointment in the Marseille staff for not calling him after he tore his ACL this winter. It’s always sad to see a youth product leave and io hope Mehdi the best in his new club. Still injured, Benatia won’t be able to train until the end of August.

Another product of the Youth Academy, Mame Ndiaye will be on loan in Boulogne next season after having finished with Libourne Saint-Seurin. We are really emptying out the academy these days.

As for some higher profile players that Marseille wanted to get rid off, Jacques Faty signed with Sochaux yesterday. The central defender never fully convinced Gerets when he was not injured this year. He only particiapted in 9 games and his future didn’t seem to be that bright with the arivals of Vittorino Hilton and Amine Erbati. The player who came to us free from Rennes will be sold to Sochaux for 2 million euros and will have the arduous task of replacing Jérémy Brechet who left Sochaux for PSV Eindhoven.

Last but not least, marseille lost 3-1 to Istres in the first one of our NINE friendlies that will lead us to the start of the season. Well Marseille did but don’t be worried jut yet, this is the starting lineup we had:
—————– Riou ——————
M’Bow —- Civelli —- Zubar —– Bonnart
————– L. N’Diaye —————-
Dennoun —— Krstic ———– Arrache
——— Ayew —— Begeorgi ——

And, of course, Ronald Zubar had the armband during the whole game. During the second half, Eric gerets put in Cissé, Niang, Grandin, Cheyrou, Zenden, Hilton, Cana, Mango to make them see the sun a little. After an extenuous first week of traning, that game came at a very good moment for the team. Next up will be tomorrow’s game against Bastia in Avignon.