Marseille manager Michel has admitted that Florian Thauvin was not the type of player he asked the club to sign, while also revealing former Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby is still nowhere near a return to action.
Thauvin, 23, rejoined Marseille on loan on Sunday, just five months after leaving them for Newcastle in a £12 million deal.
Speaking at a news conference on Monday, however, Michel said the priority should have been to ensure that they got another out-an-out striker to help take the pressure off Michy Batshuayi.
Marseille are currently 10th in Ligue 1 and Belgium international Batshuayi, 22, has scored 12 of their 33 league goals this season.
"I asked for a different player," Michel told reporters. "I asked for a striker to make up for the problems in our team.
"I got Florian Thauvin who's indeed a very good player but it's not the player that I asked for... But every good player is welcome, of course."
Although Michel didn't specify his first choice, Stoke City manager Mark Hughes confirmed on Monday that Peter Odemwingie had rejected a move to Marseille.
Meanwhile, Diaby, 29, has still not played for Marseille since his summer move from Arsenal.
The former France midfielder had serious injury problems during his nine years with the Gunners and he has struggled to reach full fitness since returning to his homeland.
In November Michel said he was unsure if Diaby would be able to feature this season after suffering another setback in his recovery.
The former Auxerre player is now back at training but Michel says Diaby still has a long way to go before he can be considered for a return to competitive action.
"It was his second training session with us," the Spaniard said of Diaby.
"I'll repeat hopefully for the last or second-last time that he's someone who needs to train for one month regularly day-to-day with us.
"Because if you look at the whole season, he hasn't had a full month of training. So it would be good if he could be with us to do a month of consecutive work."
Michel was then asked once more if he felt Diaby would be able to play before the end of the current campaign.
"Maybe -- I hope so," he said. "He deserves to and the doctor does too because he's put all his confidence in him and his work."