Olympique de Marseille sign free agent Djimi Traore – official report
French Ligue 1 giants http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mali-c2951 international Djimi Traore as Les Phoceens make the 31-year-old their sixth signing of the summer.
The Canebière-based club was linked with a move for the experienced left-back on Wednesday and Les Phoceens have acted swiftly in acquiring the services of Traore who is seen as a replacement for the injured left-back Jeremy Morel.
A statement on the club’s official website read, “An agreement in principle has reached between OM and Djimi Traore to sign a professional contract.”
The native of Saint-Ouen was a free agent following the end of his two-year spell with AS Monaco. Reports suggested earlier that Marseille were going to sign the versatile left-back on a one-year contract and the reports turned out to be true.
Last December, a serious knee injury sidelined Traore for months and Marseille did not want to take any risk by giving the former Liverpool man a longer contract. The question still remains whether Traore has fully recovered from the knee injury or not.
The move also links up Traore with former teammate Nicolas N’Koulou who joined Marseille from AS Monaco this summer. While talking about Traore, N’Koulou said, “He is a good player and given his experience of playing at the top, he will do well at Marseille.”
Djimi Traore on the other hand is also very motivated to work under Didier Deschamps. The Malian admitted that he will be playing as a cover to Jeremy Morel when the former Lorient man recovers from an injury. However, the former Liverpool man said that
he would do his best to add value to the team.
“I will try to add value to the team. I talked with Deschamps on the phone and we had a simple and honest conversation. I wanted to work with such a coach and I am very happy,” the 31-year-old said while talking on the club’s official website.
Traore won the UEFA Champions League with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 in 2005 and his presence in the squad would definitely add some much needed experience to the defensive ranks.
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