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Djibril Cisse Arrested For Alleged Sex Tape Blackmail of French International

Now that's a headline!

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports UK.

When I woke up this morning, I did not expect that at any stage during the day I would write the words 'ex-Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has been arrested for attempting to blackmail a French international over an alleged sex tape.'

But there they are, the strangest words in the most disturbing order you could possibly place them. According to the BBC – who tend to check this kind of thing out before splashing it across their website – Cisse is one of four people being held as part of the investigation in France.

The Beeb – upstanding old British institution that it is – does not confirm the identity of the victim, though others have not been so reserved and report that it is Lyon's Mathieu Valbuena and his girlfriend. In place of this the BBC reel off some of Cisse's career statistics ("24 goals in 79 appearances for the Merseyside club") which seem like the last thing anyone is looking for in this story.

Of course, we have no real detail on this investigation thus far and so can't begin to speculate on the case. But it's a difficult one to ignore, right? Cisse, who purchased a house that made him Lord of the Manor of Frodsham during his spell at Anfield, and got married dressed as a strawberry, has always been a difficult guy to ignore.

He is set to appear on the French version of Strictly Come Dancing, Danse Avec Les Stars, which starts later this month. Probably wouldn't lay on money on him to win the thing, however.