8:30am Thursday 21st June 2007
By Gordon Sharrock
SAMMY Lee wants Djibril Cisse to link up with Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies in an all-out attack on the Premiership and UEFA Cup.
The Wanderers boss is ready to pay around £6million for the Liverpool striker but, contrary to reports, he is not preparing to sell either Anelka or Diouf.
Instead, he wants the trio of strikers - all with strong Anfield connections - to work together to make his new-look Wanderers one of the most potent attacking units in the country.
Talks between Wanderers and Liverpool have been going on for weeks since Cisse ended a successful loan stint with Marseille, who qualified for the Champions League by finishing runners-up in France's Ligue One last season.
Marseille had the option of converting the loan into a permanent deal, but have been unable to match Liverpool's valuation.
Wanderers have refused to comment on repeated speculation linking them with a swoop for Cisse, but they are understood to be trying to work out the same sort of arrangement that brought El-Hadji Diouf from Anfield to the Reebok three summers ago, initially on a season-long loan, which was made permanent for a fee of around £4m.
Cisse, who became Liverpool's £14m record signing when previous manager, Gerard Houllier, bought him from Auxerre in July 2004, has two years still to run on his Anfield contract. But he is resigned to moving on after Reds' boss Rafa Benitez made it clear he was not in his plans.
Lee is expected to adopt a 4-4-2 formation rather than the 4-3-3/4-5-1 system, which was employed by Sam Allardyce, and believes Diouf and Cisse, who are both capable of operating in wide roles as well as central strikers, can be key factors in the style switch.
It is undoubtedly a mouth-watering prospect: the pacy and prolific Cisse harnessed alongside the talents of Diouf and Anelka, who almost became a permanent fixture at Liverpool in 2002 after an impressive loan spell, with the powerful Davies adding a combative edge.
Despite Benitez seeing no future for Cisse at Anfield, Liverpool are determined to get the best possible price for the player once rated one of the top strikers in Europe. And, with other clubs still interested - Marseille still cannot be ruled out - they are in no rush to do a deal.
Cisse's pedigree and goals-per-game ratio - 119 in 250 club appearances plus 10 in 29 internationals for France - makes him still a marketable commodity, despite the well-documented injury problems that have plagued him in recent years.
He broke his left leg in a freak accident at Blackburn in October 2004, just three months after joining Liverpool, and in June 2006, he broke his right leg playing for France in a World Cup warm-up game.
Both were horrific injuries but, in each case, he showed great character and determination to not only regain full fitness but to continue scoring goals - 14 in 23 games was a major contribution to Marseille's re-emergence as a major force in France last season.
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