MOUSSA: I’ll go-go for glory
SISSOKO FEELS WHAMTASTIC AT SPURS ...AND SO GLAD HE TURNED BACK ON MOVE TO EVERTON’S CLUB TROPICANA
MOUSSA SISSOKO could easily have been playing for Everton rather than Tottenham this afternoon.
Ronald Koeman wanted to take the Frenchman to Goodison Park in August 2016, but was pipped to his signature by Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino and chairman Daniel Levy on deadline day.
“It was funny,” said Sissoko. “When I signed I was in the office with the chairman and I saw on the TV, ‘Sissoko was on his way to Everton, but then he went back and came to Tottenham’.
“That wasn’t true. Before I signed here, I talked with Koeman, the manager of Everton, on the phone.
“He wanted me to join Everton and I said, ‘You have to speak with my agent and with Newcastle, and if you find an agreement, why not?’
“On that day, we didn’t have anything.
“Then on the last day of the transfer window I came here and everything was nearly done with Tottenham.
“So in my head, it was clear. I was happy because I wanted to leave Newcastle and had the opportunity to sign here.”
For two seasons, Everton fans probably thought they’d had a lucky escape after the midfielder failed to live up to his £30million price tag.
But now he is finally showing the sort of form he is capable of and has been one of Tottenham’s best players of the current campaign.
Part of his drive this season is, he admits, a result of the heartache he felt at missing out on the France squad which went on to win the World Cup last summer. Sissoko added: “I won’t lie and say, ‘It wasn’t painful to not be part of the squad’.
“But you have to accept the manager has made his choice. “I was still behind the team because I had a lot of friends there and if I wasn’t in the squad it was not because of them, it was because I didn’t do enough. “That pain has probably helped to drive me on this season.
“It was extra motivation to perform and show I could be in the squad.”
Tottenham boss Pochettino, who is one of the top candidates to become Manchester United’s new manager in the summer, is another key factor in the Frenchman’s good form. Sissoko said: “He said to me a few times that if I am here it is because I have the potential to be here.
“If he signed me, it’s because I can be a success here. So I keep working and never give up and things will change.
“Even in life, you never have to go with your head down, you have to look forward, to try to improve, keep fighting and one day the thing will change.
“And that is what has happened, so I am happy.”
So too are Spurs’ supporters, whose chant inspired by a Wham! (left) song – ‘Wake me up, before you go-go, who needs Bale when you’ve got Sissoko?’ – gets a thumbs-up from the player.
He said: “The first time they started to sing this song was last year when we played Real Madrid away. “My uncle was with the fans and filmed them all singing about me.
“I like this Wham! song so I’m very happy with it!”
Wake me up before you go-go, who needs Bale we’ve got Sissoko!