Cisse ready for Sunderland challenge
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Marseille striker Djibril Cisse, who sealed a loan move to Sunderland on Wednesday, said he was looking forward to a new challenge in the English Premier League.
"It's a new test. (Sunderland) are a team we think are small but they are looking to progress. With this signing they have given me a lot of scope to have a good season," said the former Liverpool star.
"One thing is for sure - there is a lot of potential."
Earlier in the day Marseille allowed Cisse to leave after the striker said he was not happy at the club, with chairman Pape Diouf confirming both parties had reached an agreement on a loan until the end of the season.
Cisse, 27, had said earlier in the summer he was looking for a return to the English Premier League, to prove he is still a big-game player.
He seemed to have come to an agreement with the club's management to stay and fight for a place in the side, but had a change of heart when the French football season began.
"From the first match, Djibril didn't feel that his place was assured and it affected him. At that moment the idea of leaving came back to him," Diouf told the club's website on Wednesday.
"I asked him to be patient, but in the last match against Auxerre (last weekend, where he was subbed) he had made his mind up that he would not be staying. I didn't want to go against his wishes."
Cisse moved to Anfield in 2004 -- winning a Champions League medal with Liverpool a season later -- but failed to make an impression at the club between July 2004 and June 2006, scoring 15 times in two injury-plagued seasons.
But a resurgence at Marseille, which saw him netting 16 times last season, has given him the confidence to fancy a return to England and prove his detractors wrong.
-AFP
