03.08.2004 - Le Tallec seals move as French exodus continues

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Anthony Le Tallec today became the latest of Liverpool's French players to complete a loan move away from the club, following Bruno Cheyrou and Alou Diarra in signing for a club based in his home nation.

Le Tallec was made available for loan by Rafa Benitez after being left out of the squad for the Reds' trip to America, and he has signed a year long deal with St Etienne.

However, unlike Bruno Cheyrou's move to Marseille, there is no option for St Etienne to make the deal permanent once the loan period finishes, and Le Tallec has been allowed to leave simply to allow him to gain more first team experience, and will return to Anfield next summer.

Alou Diarra's future is less certain though, with the player due to spend his third consecutive season on loan away from Anfield since he became a Liverpool player in 2002.

Signed from Bayern Munich before he'd managed to make a single first team appearance for the Bundesliga club, Diarra has so far been equally unsuccessful in gaining a first team appearance at Liverpool and was also left out of Benitez's squad which travelled to America.

Diarra will spend the coming season at Lens, though it's unclear whether he is set to feature in Rafa's future plans.