Sissoko thriving in Tottenham comfort zone
Midfielder has shrugged off early disappointment after switch to centre of pitch, writes Sam Dean
If the reports from the summer of 2016 had turned out to be true, Moussa Sissoko could have been lining up against Tottenham Hotspur today instead of playing for them. The midfielder had been heavily linked with a move to Everton – Spurs’ opponents at Goodison Park – but on the final day of the transfer window, amid all the excitement of last-minute multimillion pound deals, certain outlets had got a little carried away.
Sissoko was in an office with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, waiting to sign his contract, when the news flashed across a television screen that a deal had supposedly been done between Newcastle United and Everton.
Sissoko, the report said, was on his way to Merseyside.
“I saw this on the TV,” he says with a smile. “I was laughing.”
It is a tale that shines a light on the manic nature of modern football, told by a player who was seen by many as the embodiment of the Premier League’s financial excess. After all, in which other sport could an athlete be transferred for £30million, and then spend much of the following season sitting on the sidelines, unused and seemingly unwanted?
In that first campaign in north London, Sissoko made just eight starts in the league for Spurs, scoring no goals. Before long, he was written off as a dud and derided as simply not being good enough for Mauricio Pochettino’s brave, progressive side. One newspaper headline described him as “one of the league’s most ridiculed players”.
But as he now reaches the midway point of his third campaign under Pochettino, Sissoko is no longer a byword for erroneous spending. The Sissoko of 2018/19 is instead a testament to perseverance and mental strength, a midfielder who is playing the best football of his Spurs career and, at last, showing he was worth the hefty investment.
“I think everyone can see on the pitch it is different to the beginning,” he says. “When I came to this club it was not easy because I came on the last day of the transfer window and I didn’t have a pre-season. For me it was new team-mates, a new style. The best thing I have done is to be strong mentally. I never give up.”
There must have been times, though, when it would have been tempting to walk away? “In my head I never wanted to leave,” he says. “I knew I could have success here.”
Sissoko’s spectacular resurgence is partly due to his move to a more central midfield position – “I have always said I feel better in the centre,” he says – and partly because of his appreciation of his own limitations. “My strength is my power. I use it a lot. I’m a player who can do box-to-box, who can defend and go with the ball and at the same time go forward, behind the defenders. I don’t try to be someone else, I just try to be myself and play how I can. That’s why I’m successful right now.”
The 29-year-old has benefitted from Pochettino’s faith, even if it took a while for that to translate into firstteam starts. “He said to me a few times 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 keep working and never give up and things will change.”
Sissoko only ever grew frustrated with himself, rather than with the criticism he received.
“I was upset because I wasn’t doing what I wanted. The best thing was to keep working and never give up. And I believe I can do better than what I have been doing.”
It would have helped there were moments of hope scattered among those challenging days. A highlight for Sissoko was a terrific performance against Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League, when he first became aware of a new chant in his honour: “Who needs Bale when you’ve got Sissoko?” (to the tune of Wham’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go).
“The first time they started to sing this song was last year when we played Madrid away,” Sissoko says. “My uncle was with the fans and filmed them singing.”
Sissoko’s form this season has led to a recall with France, but his hurt at missing his country’s World Cup triumph has yet to subside. That pain, though, has provided added motivation for a player in the process of one of the season’s most remarkable transformations.
“I played a lot of games with them and then to not be in the World Cup, it was painful. If I wasn’t in the squad, it was because I didn’t do enough to be in. It was extra motivation to perform. I’m not regretting it. It’s gone and I just need to look forward.”