Manchester United have failed with an official bid, believed to be about £9m, for the France international Franck Ribéry. David Gill, Old Trafford's chief executive, contacted Marseille with a verbal offer but the French club told him they did not want to sell.

The rebuff is unlikely to prevent United from following up their interest in a midfielder who was voted Le Championnat's young player of the year. Ribéry is known to be unsettled at Marseille after the departure of the coach Jean Fernandez to Auxerre and United's cause is helped by the fact that the player's agent Bruno Heiderscheid has been described as "at war" with the Marseille president Pape Diouf.

Lyon too are interested in Ribéry, 23, who has just broken into the France team preparing for the World Cup. But Lyon's president Jean-Michel Aulas allegedly made a clandestine approach to him at the end of the season and infuriated Marseille by reportedly asking for his phone number and initiating talk of a transfer.

"United have acted with much more courtesy and delicacy than Lyon," Diouf said last night. "The answer I gave [to United] is exactly the same as I have said to Lyon. They are stubborn and they may try again, but he is not available."

Diouf said he would change his mind only if offered £35m. But he also floated the possibility of a part-exchange deal involving Lyon's former Arsenal striker Sylvain Wiltord and the Brazilians Juninho and Kris. "I will agree to let Ribéry go if Lyon give me three of their best players," he said.

A stylish, attack-minded player, Ribéry has been dubbed the new Zinédine Zidane in the French press and can play in every midfield position.

Marseille are understood to have opened negotiations with Liverpool to buy Djibril Cissé for £8m. They appear to have grasped the initiative from Gérard Houllier's Lyon, who hope to talk to the striker soon, possibly this weekend.