Marseille's Spanish coach Michel joked Wednesday he'd written to Father Christmas asking for a new striker.

Marseille sold top marksman Andre Pierre Gignac over the summer to Tigres in Mexico but failed to find a suitable big-name replacement, instead handing a bigger role to the 22-year-old Belgian Michy Batshuayi.

Batshuayi is now top of the Ligue 1 scoring charts with eight goals, but Marseille have no senior back-up attacker.

"I've written to Father Christmas to ask for a striker," said Michel ahead of Thursday's Europa League game against Sporting Braga.

"But what I really want over the transfer window is for 'Michy' to score lots of goals."

Marseille are currently 12th in Ligue 1 with 15 points from 12 matches.