Time for Sissoko to start performing

At the beginning of the last transfer window I suggested we should buy Moussa Sissoko from relegated Newcastle United and suggested a figure of £15-million.

CIES Football Observatory conduct a study each year and can predict with a high accuracy roughly what a player is worth. This is confirmed by their transfer fee. Obviously not every time they are right, but they probably are in the case of Sissoko.

Their valuation was £14.8-million, a far cry from the £30-million we paid for him. He was never worth that much, as his performances to date have proved. he is a bull in a china shop player lacking in some of the technical skills of the game, which we require to play our one touch football. He provides us with something different, although for Newcastle he played in central midfield, we have shoved him out to the wing.

Will he remain at the club after a season, he must be one of the players Pochettino is considering letting go and as such, he'll have to up his performances. At the moment he gives the ball away far too cheaply, telegraphing his passes so they are easily intercepted.

The good thing is he accepts he has not been good enough, which gives hope that he will work hard to improve. Tonight would be a good time to begin that improvement.

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