Cissé proves a hit for foreign legion
Feb 7 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
Nothing about Djibril Cissé is quite as it seems, which is why losing two of his closest friends in the dressing room has brought the Frenchman out of his shell. Stuart Rayner reports.
DJIBRIL Cissé is a walking paradox. He is quite possibly the only member of the English landed gentry with a peroxide beard, ever-changing Mohican colour, all-over tattoos, loud clothes and fashionista WAG. But if ever there was an argument for not judging a book by its exuberant cover, the quiet man of Sunderland’s dressing room is it.
Given those contradictions, it perhaps should not come as a surprise that since his two closest friends at the Wearside club have left, Cissé has become a more audible presence in the dressing room.
Some in the media put two and two together when El-Hadji Diouf and Pascal Chimbonda were ushered out of the Stadium of Light exit last month and concluded Cissé would be following in the summer. Whether the Black Cats will take up their option to sign the £10m striker permanently on the completion of his loan from Marseilles is unclear, but manager Ricky Sbragia has seen nothing recently to suggest his top-scorer’s mind is elsewhere.
The summer of 2008 was one of experimentation on Wearside. Searching for the fabled “next level”, then-manager Roy Keane dropped his previous reticence towards signing overseas footballers, and bought a job lot.
Teemu Tainio, Steed Malbranque and Chimbonda arrived from Tottenham Hotspur, and Younes Kaboul would have done, too, had Keane’s powers of persuasion been stronger. Senegalese winger Diouf came from Bolton Wanderers, and Cissé’s loan completed the set.
It is probably fair to say the experiment backfired. Tainio’s fitness record has been poor, limiting his impact in a red-and-white shirt, while those who believed Keane was playing with fire when he signed two fully paid-up members of the awkward squad in Diouf and Chimbonda were proved right.
But it was not all bad. Finnish international Tainio still has time to prove he can be an asset, but the French pair of Malbranque and Cissé already have. The crafty midfielder has arguably been Sunderland’s player of the season, providing the class Keane went in search of. And with 10 goals and counting, Cissé is threatening to be the prolific forward the club has not had in the Premier League since Kevin Phillips headed for the south coast.
As a foreigner in a fairly xenophobic country, it would be natural to assume that Cissé – or the Lord of the Manor of Frodsham, to give him the title he inherited with a £2m house overlooking the River Mersey four years ago – would be unsettled by the departure of two French-speaking friends in the January transfer window. But the centre-forward with a white beard and red, green, black – or whatever other colour takes his fancy – hair does not really do natural. “He is mixing a lot better,” says Sbragia. “When there are a lot of French speaking people here, then you will speak French and that is a problem, but a couple have left. A lot of clubs have insisted on everyone speaking English.
“Steed doesn’t speak. If they were all like Steed, it would be easy because he trains really hard and loves his private side. But he always gives his all on the pitch.”
Down-to-earth Sunderland does not seem an ideal match for Cissé and his wife Jude, who owns a boutique in Newcastle. So obviously, they love it.
“Djib has moved into the city and seems to enjoy it,” says Sbragia. “He has put his roots down and is a private man. I don’t think he is a drinker, which is good. He mixes really well in the dressing room. You can get little cliques at clubs, but in general Djib has been really good. He said he was going to be a gladiator against Newcastle last week and he was certainly that.”
On Sunday, Cissé reached double figures for the season. His strike partner Kenwyne Jones is not far behind with eight goals, already beating last season’s tally. It being Cissé, things cannot be that cut and dried. While both are finding the net with regularity, doubts remain about their ability to play together. Some see Cissé as too much of a lone wolf. Quite rightly, Sbragia doesn’t particularly care.
“He has done what Roy bought him here to do to and that’s score goals,” he reasons. “He has proved that and is a prolific goalscorer.
“He has helped Kenwyne as well. Kenwyne has got eight, so he has helped in that way. Last year we had problems scoring goals but this time we have two forwards who can score and they have 18 goals between them. I don’t care how they play, as long as they score goals.
“I think he (Cissé) is greedy, but strikers have to be. He has got to take decisions. We will show him things on video and yet I would always rather have a greedy striker, although there will come a time if you are doing it constantly – that is shooting on sight – you will have to have a word. I haven’t needed to with him.”
