Marseille have confirmed they will consider offering Stephane Mbia a new contract in the next few months.
Defender set for contract talks to stay at Stade Velodrome
Olympique Marseille have confirmed they will consider offering defender Stephane Mbia a new contract in the next few months.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a great end to last season as Marseille claimed the Ligue 1 title, but the defender has endured a very difficult start to the new campaign, including being guilty of conceding a penalty in Tuesday's UEFA Champions League defeat to Chelsea.
Rumours were rife over the summer that the Cameroon international was keen to move to a bigger European club, but knee trouble meant any reported transfer plans had to be put on hold.
Marseille sport director Jose Anigo explained Mbia wanted to take no risks with his knee pain, but refused to confirm suggestions the centre-back is trying to make the club offer him an improved contract.
Nasty
Anigo told
L'Equipe: "He is not someone nasty, who is planning trouble.
"Sometimes he can be difficult to follow, but Stephane is a good boy. He has a career strategy. He is taking a lot of care about his body. Indeed, he had a micro-lesion to his knee tendon that hurt him and he did not want to worsen it.
"Now he is penalised due to his lack of competition."
The chairman of last season's French champions, Jean-Claude Dassier, admitted he will talk about an extension in the winter.
The defender is currently under contract until 2013, but Dassier added: "That contract re-evaluation is logical because we want to keep him at the club for a long time."
