Athens side Panathinaikos announced yesterday that French international striker Djibril Cisse has signed a four-year contract with the Greek club.

Panathinaikos did not reveal financial details of the deal with Marseille but press reports in Greece said that it is the most expensive transfer in the country's football history.

The reports said that Cisse's transfer will cost Panathinaikos a total of 20 million euros, including eight million euros to Marseille, and 2.5 million euros a year to the 28-year-old player plus bonuses.

Cisse arrived with his family Thursday on Panathinaikos president Nicholas Pateras's private jet from Manchester and was greeted by about 3,000 of the club's supporters at the airport.

"I am very enthusiastic from the welcome and I have not witnessed anything like it in my life. I really didn't expect nor imagine it," Cisse said of the turnout.

The Cisse family will stay in Greece until tomorrow in the presidential suite of one of Athens's most expensive seaside hotels. They will return to Manchester to pick up their personal belongings and return to Greece permanently.

Cisse will then join the pre-season training camp of Panathinaikos in Switzerland sometime next week.

Cisse yesterday successfully passed a medical examination by the Panathinaikos medical team and was taken to a tour of the club's facilities.