Monday afternoon, news and rumors…

By: Magnusson | November 26th, 2007

While the team has just arrived in Istanbul, it is time to make the round-up of a few rumors and news that have been gathered the last few days.
The first new recruit of the next season will be a young and talented keeper who seems to show a lot of promise. Apparently, the Marseille staff is prettyconfident this kid will be able to adapt to marseille and be one of the good players in the future. That kid’s name is Steve Mandanda. Yes, I know. It took us long enough to buy him from Le havre. Until then he was still on loan but given his incredible outings for us, Steve Mandanda seems to have already relegated usual starter Cédric carasso to the bench. Kinda like when Stéphane Porato managed to outplay Andreas Kopke and become our starting keeper.

Anigo is looking for a striker all around the World

Sports Affairs Manager and über-Minot José Anigo went to Argentina for two weeks to prepare our mercato and he came back without saying a word. It is not a secret anymore that marseille will have to replace a few players during the African Cup of Nations (Niang, Ayew, Taiwo, M’bami, etc…), as well as a right-back and a striker.
But a lot of rumors have been floating around. The first name that has been heavily linked to our side is that of Argentinian striker Germàn Denis from Independiente. The 26 year-old has a lot of scout’s heads buzzing lately, managing to find the net fifteen times in thirteen gmes in this year’s Apertura. His great performances were responsible for his first call up in the Argentinian National Team. Surely, the striker could be a great and needed addition to our squad. He happens to be for sale, his price being set at 9 million. Marseille will be competing with the Lazio
Another Argentinian name that’s been mentionned is Rodrigo Palacio from Boca Junior who was already linked to us a few years back when he was still Renato Civelli’s teammate at banfield. He kept at it and earned a spot on the National Team for the 2006 World Cup. Palacio is one of the most sought-after strikers in Argentina despite not playing the last Copa America.

Another striker whose name has been circulating is that of Guillaume Hoarau. Ligue1 has Karim Benzema and Ligue 2 has him. What a player! He’s been impressing the whole french media as well as teams like Chelsea and Arsenal. Marseille seems to be in the pole position since we saw him 16 (sixteen!!!!!!!) times in the last few months. Anigo is litterally in love with him and given the great realationship we have with Le havre, his transfer could be a possibility next season although more difficult this winter.

Add those names to the already heavily mentionned Vagner Love, Mamadou Samassa, Tulio de Melo, Ever Banega and Kim.

The search for a decent right-back

We let Habib Bèye go to Newcastle and that was a mistake. The right-back position has been a recurring problem ever since this season. We’ve been hearing a lot of players names lately, namely Benfica Lisbon right-back Maxi Pereira who has not convinced yet this season. I don’t know why they would give us a player they bought only three million and who showed a lot of promise. They can and certainly will a while longer before selling him to anyone.
Now the latest persistent rumor around marseille is that the club would be very interested in sending the Ribéry money back to Munich to get Willy Sagnol who apparently decided to leave the club in order to get a spot on the french national Team this summer. I don’t know how much creit I can give this rumor. First of all, Willy Sagnol is a world class player. He HAS a spot on the RayRay list. He’s even a VIP on that list. Why woàuld he come play in a team that has lesser results than that of his backup in the National Team (wether it is Reveilleres or Clerc). When you see that Manchester United reacted as quckly as we did, the better deal would be for him to go to a team that’s assured to play the quarterfinals of the Champions League at least and play with some of the best players of our time. I really don’t want to get my hopes up and will wait and see what happens later this week.

Here are a few pictures taken tonight at Istanbul Airport. The players arrived with a full staff and 21 players: Mandanda, Maté, Givet, Faty, Bonnart, Taiwo, Zubar, Rodriguez, MBami, Cheyrou, Oruma, Valbuena, Zenden, Ziani, Nasri, Gragnic, Cana, Cissé, Niang, Ayew, Arrache.