Tuesday, slow news day…

By: Magnusson | July 22nd, 2008

A lot has happened in the last four days. Once Bakary Koné was signed from Nice, Pape Diouf told the press that the Mercato was over for us, unless some other players leave. This of course came as a surprise as many players were believed to still be on their way out, namely Karim Ziani, Renato Civelli, Gaël Givet, Bolo Zenden, Djibril Cissé and Modeste M’bami.

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.