Papiss Demba Cissé

Reports from TalkSPORT and Deutsche Presseagentur (German press agency) have indicated that Arsene Wenger is set to make a move for Freiburg attacker Papiss Cissé.

The striker, currently plying his trade in the Bundesliga, is a typical Wenger target – relatively unknown, has a decent but not exceptional scoring record and has spent plenty of time in the French leagues. In fact, he has played in the top three French divisions. In his last 110 matches, he has netted 58 goals, but prior to that his scoring record was less impressive. He also has an international pedigree, with 7 goals in 9 appearances for Senegal since his debut in August 2009.

TalkSPORT exclusively revealed that a host of Premier League clubs are looking at bringing the striker to England, including Sunderland, Fulham, Blackburn and Everton.

The Chairman of Freiburg said the following to the Deutsche Presseagentur:

“We have received three concrete offers for the services of Papiss Demba Cissé.

“All three are from clubs in foreign leagues. We are going to consider these offers calmly, but this doesn’t necessarily mean we are definitely going to sell him.”

If reports are to be believed, a fee in the region of £13 million will be needed to secure his services. This may rise if a bidding war begins between the clubs that are interested, which also includes CSKA Moscow and Bayern Munich.

I don’t know much about the player myself, but it does seem like a Wenger-esque signing. He has admitted that we need to sign a striker in the wake of Bendtner’s impending departure. The comments were made yesterday and can be found here. In addition to a striker, Wenger has cited the midfield as an area that needs bolstering, and he has made a bid for Cahill. Wenger said:

“We lose Gervinho and Chamakh together [due to the African Cup of Nations] so, first of all, it is important to strengthen up front. It is important that we find one midfielder and one defender as well. So we are still short of three bodies.”

Back to Cissé, and it seems that time is running out for Wenger to make a move. A bid may already have been made, given that Freiburg have had three concrete offers.

Cissé himself said the following:

“I have a contract with Freiburg but I want to play at the highest level. The Premier League is a big league and I want to leave.”

If an acceptable offer comes in for Cissé, then Freiburg will probably have to sell him because he wants out.

Likeliness Rating: 4/5

If you want to keep up to date with all the latest news and opinion on Arsenal Football Club then please follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.