Roux, however, has now admitted that Cisse, like Eric Cantona and Basile Boli before him, may be granted his wish to test his undoubted talent at the highest level in the very near future.
"We've never been forced to sell players. There were occasions when we sold players we didn't want to, nearly always because the player himself wanted to leave, like Cantona or Boli. So we made sure they left one year after they wanted," said Roux.
"Now it's the same with Cisse. All of Europe thought he'd be off last year but he's staying. Next year, he could go. But if you have to sell, you are on the way down the slippery slope.
"Cisse can win a game on his own, something few players can do. Owen, Henry maybe, Ian Wright was another.
"They don't need players around them. You just give them the ball and they go. We had to beat Boavista to reach the Champions League last season. They were all over us for the entire game and then Cisse picked up a loose ball, ran 20 metres and bang! One-nil, and we qualified."