Injury to Morientes means Cisse stays
The prospect of striker Djibril Cisse leaving Liverpool in the
transfer window has receded considerably with injury to Fernando
Morientes and boss Rafael Benitez's insistence that he does not
want the flamboyant Frenchman to leave Anfield.
Marseille have repeatedly expressed their interest in Cisse, but
that has been dismissed by Benitez as he prepares to send out his
Liverpool side in search of their 10th successive league win
against West Brom.
Benitez has lost Morientes with a knee ligament injury for the rest
of the holiday programme, and maybe longer.
'We have less choice up front now because Fernando Morientes has
injured his knee and will miss the next two games at least. But we
still have Cisse, (Peter) Crouch, (Harry) Kewell and (Florent)
Sinama-Pongolle. There are still a lot of options,' the Reds boss
said.
'We do not have a number one pairing, we decide on which couple
depending on injuries and who we are playing.
'I do not see it any more important now to strengthen our strikers
department in the transfer window, we have plenty of choice.
'It will be Cisse and Crouch now and hopefully Morientes will be
back soon.'
He added: 'As for Cisse's future, we are always hearing Marseille
talking and talking but they do not talk to us.
'We do not want to see Cisse go because he is an important player
for us.
'He has a good attitude, when you are with a big club like
Liverpool you know you will have good team-mates and sometimes you
can play and sometimes you cannot.
'You just must be ready when the manager tells you to go out and
play. Cisse is a good finisher, we saw at Everton, and he gives us
good options with his pace and for that game he was certainly ready
when we wanted him.'
Benitez is clearly in no mood to weaken his squad further - winger
Bolo Zenden is also out long term with a knee problem - as
Liverpool make consistent progress in the Barclays Premiership and
with the Champions League last 16 coming up in February.
But Benitez does look like he has clinched a swap deal which will
involve Villarreal's Dutch full-back Jan Kromkamp moving to Anfield
with Josemi returning to Spain.
Benitez added: 'We have an agreement with Villarreal, and if we can
get an agreement with both the players then we will swap
them.
'Josemi is a right-back with some problems here with English, and
Kromkamp has problems with Spanish at his new club.
'Maybe this swap will be good for both of them. Josemi is happy
here, he's a good professional but he sometimes prefers to talk in
Spanish and to do that when he is with the Spanish players
here.
'Kromkamp has the same problem at Villarreal with the Spanish
language. We still need to talk to both players, but in a few days
maybe he will be here training with us.
'He is a strong full-back, aggressive and offensive, he can play as
a full-back or a wing-back, but I would rather now wait to make
sure the deal can be completed.'
Benitez said: 'Josemi had interest from Sevilla, but Villarreal
have now talked to us and we have a deal with them but still need
to talk to Kromkamp.
'It is very difficult to play in another country and he has had
trouble learning Spanish.
'He is maybe too offensive for a defender there because they need
to strengthen at the back.
'Josemi has improved his English, but for him and his family it has
been difficult. Kromkamp has the same problems because I think 100%
of the team at Villarreal only talk Spanish, no English, and that
has been really difficult for him.'
The Spanish boss concedes he is still searching for a centre-back
to strengthen his squad, but said: 'It is always difficult in the
transfer window, but in January more so. Teams are settled and
playing and if you want someone who is doing well for his team it
is very difficult to buy them.
'Good players are at big clubs and that is hard. You can only look
for players at smaller clubs.'
Now Benitez wants to see his side build on their two previous
holiday victories against West Brom and then Bolton on
Monday.
He says: 'The Everton result was really good for us, three good
points against our rivals and that has pleased us and our
fans.
'We have started the holiday programme well but we have two more
still to play, as I say, one game at a time or in this case, two
games at a time!
'After these next two games we will see whether our situation is
very good or not. But it will be hard because every game in the
Premiership is very, very difficult and that certainly applies to
West Brom and Bolton.'
Benitez's insistence that he does not want to sell Cisse
was supported by the player himself in response to reported claims
from his brother and former agent, Hamed, suggesting a deal with
Marseille had almost been finalised.
Cisse said in a Sky Sports interview: 'I'm really disappointed with
my brother. I just want to make myself clear. I am in Liverpool and
I'm going to stay in Liverpool.
'I don't want to leave after two seasons. I don't know why I'm
going to leave. The Liverpool fans are amazing, the club is
amazing. We have a good team, a good manager and everything is
okay.
'I'm fed up with this speculation. It's always Marseille, and it
starts to be boring. Like I said, I'm really disappointed with my
brother.[b]
