The case for Djibril Cissé…

By: Magnusson | July 24th, 2008

If there has been one player who hasn’t said a word since the beginning of the seaosn it is Djibril Cissé. After having been left off Raymond Domenech’s France 23, Djibril went back “home” to his wife and told the Observer how much he missed his life in the U.K. and how much he wanted to be back there to show how good a player he could be again. Since that interview, the peroxide blond striker has kept mum, trying to convince the fans he would stay next season (even though a maajority of them feel he’s not good enough, despite having scored 37 goals in a season and a half) and trained hard once he got back to the Commanderie.

In the meantime, he had time to put the blackmail problems (Djibril and a few other players are either victims of rackets, theft or just plain blackmail in the case of Cissé). Djibril is suing the people who are threatening to release on the internets a very personal video oh his they stole at his home (I bet on the office pool that it was his wife stripping from rainy England). Zenden, Niang and Faty were apparently also victims of some sorts of criminality during the summer break.

To get back to football. Djibril has then voiced to his staff that he still wanted to live closer to his wife and he received an ultimatum this monday. To make things short and simple, José Anigo told the player that if marseille didn’t receive an offer that they deemed proper by next week he would still play with us. And the Marseille staff is looking less willing to negociate with other clubs by the minute when they see how good he’s been lately.

And Djibril’s current form isn’t going unnoticed. The fans have decided to start a “Cisséthon” to make sure they show the ex-Auxerre player how much they want him to continue the adventure in Marseille. In this unanticipated showing of love, 5000 fans have already signed the petition to ask him to stay. The most famous of them all? Lorik Cana! The Captain signed it and said how much the whole club wanted him to stay but also added that it was only his choice and that was a private matter.

Eric Gerets told France Football that he wanted him to stay but that Djibril needed to feel the public’s love. The Lion of Rhekhem added that if Djibril felt the sentiment towards him would last all season, he would probably stay.

My take is this. Djibril Cissé improved incredibly under Eric Gerets and could pretend to a much bigger club if Marseille wins something this season. I really think he deserves a decent shot at either the National Team or to some other kind of exposure than just his print ads. If I were him, I’d stay one more season and learn as much as I can from Gerets and move to a better side than West Ham. But then again, if I were him, a lot of things would have gone differently.