Cisse to Stadium of Light

Great news for lovers of pacy Frenchmen with silly haircuts and two broken legs: Djibril Cissé is heading back to the Premier League.

Cissé’s current club Marseille have reached an “agreement in principle” for the striker to join Sunderland on loan until the end of the season. Though Cissé’s scoring record at Marseille was decent last season, he’s been in and out of the team, and wasn’t shy about letting the world know he wanted to go back to the Premier League.

And few men deserve a second shot at English football as much as Djibril Cissé.

Here’s the timeline:
While banging in goals for Auxerre, the striker was long hailed as the answer to Liverpool’s scoring problems and Gérard Houllier made no secret of his desire to sign him up. And so a £14 million move to Anfield was agreed for summer 2004..

But then Houllier was fired and Rafa Benitez came in. And worse, much much worse, Cissé suffered a horrible leg break in October 2004. His tibia and fibia both snapped. If you’re feeling gruesome you can see some medical terminology and a photo of the incident here. He cameback in April 2005 and played his part in Liverpool’s famous Champions League win. Good work. The folliowing season Benitez hit on the idea of playing Cissé on the right wing. You know, because he’s fast. Just what a striker likes.

At the end of the 2006 season he was named in the France World Cup squad and had agreed a deal to leave Liverpool for Marseille, only for tragedy to strike again on the day the transfer was agreed. Cissé break his other leg in France’s final warm up game before the tournament. The man has no luck.

He was first loaned to Marseille, and then the deal was made permanent last season for €8 million. But clearly Cissé feels he has unfinished business in the Premier League. And Sunderland might be the best place to do it.

With Kenwyne Jones out injured and Sunderland in need of firepower, Cissé’s going to be the Mackems main man. No playing on the right wing, no sitting on the bench, just regular first team football as a first choice striker in a decent Premier League team.

I seriously hope he gets the chance to show everyone in England what he can do this time. For him Stadium of Light could become Stadium of Return.