Djibril Cissé
Birthdate: 12.08.1981
Birthplace: Arles France
Other clubs: Auxerre, Olympique Marseille, Sunderland (loan), Panathinaikos, Lazio, Queens Park Rangers
Bought from: Auxerre
Signed for LFC: 14500000 01.07.2004
International debut: 18.05.2002 vs. Belgium
International caps: 41/9 (14/6 at LFC) - 07.10.2011
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Liverpool debut: 10.08.2004
Last appearance: 13.05.2006
Debut goal: 14.08.2004
Last goal: 13.05.2006
Contract expiry: 09.07.2007
LFC league games/goals: 49 / 13
Total LFC games/goals: 79 / 24
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Player profile
Cissé joined Auxerre as a youngster and made his debut in the 1998/99 season, adding two more games the following season. He was given a proper chance in the 2000/01 season when he scored eight goals in 25 League games. His star shone brightly in 2001/02, scoring all kinds of goals, some of them truly spectacular, and finished as top-scorer in France with 22 goals from 29 League games. Houllier was a firm admirer and signalled his intentions to his old friend Guy Roux, Auxerre's manager. "Gerard and I speak all the time and it does not usually take him long to get round to the subject of Djibril. He is a big admirer of the boy and is always asking about him, " revealed Roux. "Gerard and I are good friends. The discussion tends to come round to the same subject and there is no denying Djibril's game would flourish in the English game. He would be unstoppable. With his pace he would be one of the most destructive strikers in the English game." Cisse realised he was going nowhere yet and had a somewhat disappointing 2002/03 season, scoring 14 goals in 33 League games. In the summer of 2003 Roux persuaded Cissé to stay for one more season. Liverpool-bound Cissé played superbly in his final season and scored 26 goals in 38 League games and was again king of the scoring charts in the French league. He was top-scorer by a good margin of six from Alexander Frei at Rennes and seven from Marseille's star striker Didier Drogba. Cissé scored 70 goals in 128 League games during his six seasons at Auxerre.
Ironically two weeks before Cissé's arrival at Anfield on 1 July 2004 Houllier had left the club by mutual consent. He now had to impress former Valencia boss, Rafa Benítez, By October he admitted to LFC magazine he was struggling in his new surroundings: "I would ask the fans to be patient because my best form is coming, '' Cissé said convincingly. "I am having to learn a new style of football in this country, the game is much faster and more physical than I am used to and I am being singled out for close marking. I am having to learn how Milan [Baros] plays and how we can help each other in attack. The same is true of Luis Garcia and since I am not a magician I will need patience before that happens. I don't think we are similar players at all. Milan likes to have the ball at his feet and the goal in front of him so he can run at players and commit them, getting in behind them and shooting. I like the ball in space so I have time to assess my options. Milan plays the game quicker than me but I think we can blend together well and become a good partnership.''
In only his fifteenth game for Liverpool, having scored three goals, Cissé suffered a fracture of the tibia and fibula of his left leg against Blackburn on 30 October 2004. He was out of action for six months returning in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Juventus. If he hadn't been given the right treatment Cissé's career might have ended there and then: "When they took me from the field what they did was so important for my career," Cissé said. "My bones were overlapping and I had no circulation in my foot. They had to pull my bones back into place with their hands. If they had waited until I got to the hospital I might have lost my leg. Cissé was a substitute in nine of the ten games he featured in the rest of the season including the Instanbul final where he played 35 minutes and scored from Liverpool's second penalty in the shoot-out.
Cissé scored six goals in his first nine matches of the 2005/06 season but the majority of them came against weak opponents in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. He was happy with his progress: "I was worried about getting back my acceleration," he said. "But in the tests, I was the one who jumped the highest and ran the fastest. No one at Liverpool can beat me. Djibril is back." Two of his goals came though on a big stage in the Super Cup final against CSKA Moscow when he guaranteed a 3-1 victory in extra-time after coming on as a substitute. He didn't command a regular place in the team but two starts inspired winning goals in two consecutive games in the middle of October against Blackburn and Anderlecht. However, Cissé struggled to find any consistency as the season progressed and Rafa Benítez was not too happy: "At Auxerre he didn't have any responsibility for defending or the tactics of the team; he could do his own thing. Now at a big club like Liverpool he needs to learn that he has to work for his team-mates, who are also very good players. He has to understand the difference between a club that plays to win games and a club that plays to win trophies." In January 2006 Cissé had to deny claims made by his brother and one-time agent Hamed that a deal with Marseille was "90 per cent done" at the weekend and insisted: "I'm in Liverpool for three more seasons and I'm not going to leave. The stuff is rubbish, I'm here to stay. It hurt me because it's my own family who talk rubbish." However, Marseille sporting director Jose Anigo insisted his club would continue their pursuit: "In football what you say one day might not be true any more the next."
Cissé scored only one goal from middle of November to the middle of March but finished the season with a flourish. He scored seven goals in his last ten games including the opening goal in the FA Cup win over West Ham. As Liverpool were in contract discussions with Marseille and Lyon over Cissé's transfer he suffered another double fracture of the tibia and fibula, this time of his right leg, in a friendly for France against China. He missed the world cup but Anigo's prediction came true when a loan deal was agreed that took him to Marseille in July 2006. Cissé scored 15 goals in 25 games including two in the cup final against Sochaux which Marseille lost after a penalty shoot-out. Rafa wanted a permanent transfer for him and after lengthy negotiations the player was sold to Marseille early in July 2007 for a fee of £6 million.
Cissé scored 22 goals in 50 matches for Marseille in 2007/08 but he wanted a return to England where his wife was still living. In August 2008 he signed a one-year loan deal with Sunderland. Cissé played in 38 games for Sunderland and scored 11 goals during his loan spell in the 2008/09 season. Cissé struggled for goals in the second half of the season and the lack Cats didn't take up the option to sign him in a permanent deal. Cissé returned to Marseille but within a few weeks the French club had negotiated a £6.8 million transfer that took him to Greece with Panathinaikos.
Djibril Cissé's 23 League goals, over two times more than the next-highest player, helped Panathinaikos to the Greek championship in 2010. His club also won the Greek cup to complete a domestic double. Cissé added another five goals in Europa League matches. Cissé was included in the French squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but only played once, starting his country's final group game against the host country. France lost by two goals to one to end a truly miserable campaign as they finished bottom of Group A with just a solitary point from three matches. The striker, however, enjoyed much better fortune in his second full season in Greece, scoring 20 times in 33 League matches and taking his total of goals for Panathinaikos past the half-century mark.
Cissé signed a four-year contract with Italian Serie A club Lazio in July 2011 where he scored five goals in 27 matches until on the last day of the January transfer window when he returned to England and signed for Mark Hughes' Queens Park Rangers for £4 million.