Djibril Cisse spent three years of his playing career at Liverpool, but he was close to joining one of the best teams in Spain before his move.
Liverpool broke their transfer record by signing Djibril Cisse for £14.5m in 2004. Unfortunately, he struggled with injuries during his time at Anfield and only made 79 appearances before joining Marseille.
Cisse might never have ended up at Liverpool in the first place. The former striker has now revealed he had offers from two of the best teams in La Liga, but he turned them down to join Liverpool, a decision he does not regret making.
He told Poker Strategy: “I nearly signed for Barcelona and Real Madrid in the summer of 2004. However, I turned those offers down in favour of a move to Liverpool.
“That season I scored 26 goals at Auxerre so there was a lot of clubs interested in signing me that summer, but I wanted the move to Anfield.”
Cisse already made a commitment to Liverpool and while he was tempted by Barcelona and Real Madrid, he chose to honour his word and become a Red.
“I had given my word to Liverpool, and I didn’t want to go back on that agreement,” he said. “Of course, it would have been great to line up at the Camp Nou or the Bernabeu alongside the talent there was there at the time, but I had already had some good conversations with the club and I was happy to sign for Liverpool.”
Cisse only scored 24 goals for Liverpool, but he always delivered in key matches. The forward slotted away a penalty in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan and later scored twice against CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Super Cup. He found the next a year later in the FA Cup final against West Ham.
“Liverpool are a great club,” he added, “and it was one of the best nights of my career to win the Champions League in the way we did in Istanbul the following year, so I’m very happy with the choice I made.”
The forward spent most of his career after Liverpool away from the Premier League. However, he did spend the 2008/09 season on loan at Sunderland. He would go on to have one final spell in England, playing for QPR during the 2012/13 campaign.
Cisse retired four years ago, but he now has a son called Prince who plays for the Liverpool under-18s team. He is a central striker like his father and has made five appearances in the under-18s Premier League so far this season.
