Deschamps, Morientes reunited at Marseille

Valencia’s veteran Spanish striker Fernando Morientes joined French giants Marseille on Monday and was reunited with his former coach, Didier Deschamps.

The pair worked together at Monaco – where Morientes goals played a large part in Monaco reaching the 2004 Champions League final – and Deschamps believes the experienced 33-year-old can make a crucial impact at the Velodrome next season.

“Fernando has the physical freshness and hunger for the top level,” Deschamps told the media here on Monday as he welcomed the arrival of another signing, midfielder Fabrice Abriel from Lorient.

“If we’d wanted to sign a 20-goal a season striker he (Morientes) would have cost us 15 million euros. We couldn’t do that.

“I’m not saying by that that Fernando is a second best option. I know him well. But he’s not going to be playing 40 games for 90 minutes, we’ll have to prepare him.”

Deschamps dismissed suggestions that at his age Morientes’ best days were behind him.

“I know that in France we tend to have doubts when we’re discussing players over 30. But Fernando isn’t worn out, and just look at the impact of (Filippo) Inzaghi or (Alessandro) Del Piero, who are 36 and 35.

“If we’d signed him three years ago he would have been inaccessible in terms of the transfer fee and his salary.”

Morientes, who has also had a spell with Liverpool, is expected to sign for two years or for one year with the option to extend his tenure at the south coast giants by a further 12 months.

Last week Marseille said goodbye to their Albanian captain Lorik Cana who moved to Premier League side Sunderland in a reported five million pound deal.