AS Roma is on the verge of signing Marseille's ex-Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse', sources close to the French international said Thursday.
Cisse's agent will meet Roma representatives in Rome Friday, the sources said.
The two sides were said to be looking at a seven-million-euro deal giving Cisse', who will be 28 next month, a three-year contract worth 2-5 million euros per season.
Roma is eager to get its hands on a top-class striker to partner skipper Francesco Totti - especially after the departures of Amantino Mancini and Ludovic Giuly, respectively to Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.
Its appetite increased after Fiorentina rebuffed a reported 18-million bid for Romania star Adrian Mutu.
Real Madrid's Brazilian international Julio Baptista has been repeatedly linked to the Roman club, which finished second to Inter Milan in the Italian championship last year and has been getting closer to Champions League success.
But Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said Wednesday the club would ''take things easy and not be rushed into anything''.
Pundits took this as indicating Baptista, 27, could arrive on a loan-exchange deal at the end of August.
But the capital's sports daily, Corriere dello Sport, said Thursday the Baptista deal was ''virtually done''.
It said Real was now prepared to shed the former Sevilla and Arsenal man because it was ''very close'' to landing Hamburg's 24-year-old Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, who stood out at Euro 2008.
Alternative Roma targets, Corriere dello Sport said, were Ajax's Netherlands striker Klaas-Jan Huntelarr, Bayern Munich's Germany winger Lucas Podolski and Inter's Argentina veteran Hernan Crespo, who coach Jose' Mourinho has hinted could be surplus to requirements.
Chelsea's Laurent Malouda is also in Roma's sights but only a possibility if the London club finds a replacement, it said.
For the moment, Spalletti said he is happy keeping 19-year-old Nigerian-Italian talent Stefano Chuka Okaka, whose loan deal to Bologna has been put on hold.
''Okaka is staying because certain things have indicated it's a good idea for him to stay,'' Spalletti said.
''He's a good lad and a good footballer. We'll hold on to him for now and then take another look at the situation''.
Roma's only big summer signing so far has been Cisse's former clubmate at Liverpool, Norway defender John Arne Riise, with whom he won the Champions League against AC Milan in 2005.
Cisse' scored 13 goals in 49 matches for Liverpool between 2004 and 2007 after leaving French side Auxerre, where he scored 70 times in 128 appearances.
He has found the net 16 times in 35 matches for Marseille.
Cisse' has 37 French caps and nine goals.
Totti, who has been sidelined with an injured knee since April, is fighting to be fit for the Italian SuperCup against Inter on August 24, coach Luciano Spalletti said Monday.
