Former Liverpool, Sunderland, and Queens Park Rangers striker Djibril Cisse has been arrested.

The London Evening Standard reports Cisse was arrested over an alleged plot to blackmail France international Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape.

Cisse, 34, is one of four men being held by judicial police in France.

"We can confirm that he is being questioned over his role in this affair," said a source working for investigators in Versailles, west of Paris.

Valbuena, the 31-year-old Lyon midfielder who has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs, was asked for money in return for the tape not being published, it is alleged.