Sunderland 'not big enough' for Marouane Chamakh

Please let me leave: Marouane Chamakh is being targeted by several English clubs
11 April 2012

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc has again ruled out the departure of Marouane Chamakh to Sunderland by insisting he will only let the wantaway striker join a "big club".

Chamakh has outlined his determination to leave Les Girondins and move to the Premier League in England but he has yet to find a club.

He has claimed Sunderland are the team with whom he has had the most advanced talks.

But Blanc has already said he would only allow Chamakh to move if what he views as a bigger club came in with an offer, and he has reiterated his stance while on a pre-season tour to Canada with Les Girondins.

"I am going to do everything to make sure he does not go to just any club", the former France defender told French daily newspaper L'Equipe.

"With him, things are clear. After the season he's had, if he has to go, it will be to a big club. That's why I am standing in the way of a departure to Sunderland.

"I am not going to change what I said to him at the start of the year. If an offer comes from a big club, I will not stand in the way. The door is half-open."

Blanc would love to see Chamakh, who weighed in with 13 league goals last season in Les Girondins' march to the French title, stay for another year.

"Players with Marouane's profile are difficult to find," Blanc added his interview with L'Equipe.

"He is someone who has showed enormous progress in his efficiency. Abroad, he has an image of a good striker who scores little.

"It is why I would like him to stay, to score between 15 and 20 goals with us and that people can realise he is a goalscorer."

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