Newcastle United’s Moussa Sissoko has hinted he is open to a move to Arsenal after confirming a long-standing affection for the club.
Arsene Wenger was first linked with a £15 million deal for the French international back in November and the 25-year-old’s future has been a subject of discussion ever since with Saint James’ Park sources last week forced to dismiss talk of a move to Paris Saint Germain.
“The transfer market is open, so things can happen any day, but I am focused on Newcastle,” Sissoko reportedly told Téléfoot [translated by the Telegraph] as he jumped in a taxi dressed in nothing but a high denier pair of stockings and a macintosh.
“If anything should happen, it will. I hope I’ll leave for a bigger club one day, but I don’t know when. England is my priority. If [Arsène] Wenger calls, I’ll have a man-to-man discussion with him and then we’ll see. Arsenal has always been the club of my heart.
“I hope I’ll improve to win the Champions League one day. I don’t want to set limits to myself. I want to go higher. That’s my goal.”
A physical box-to-box midfielder Sissoko moved to Newcastle from Toulouse two-years ago for around £1.7m but has seen his value rocket. It is believed owner Mike Ashley is now holding out for around £20 million; a figure he commanded for Yohan Cabaye this time last year.
Arseblog News thinks a solid 5 on the poo-ometer for this.
On one level he’s French and a midfielder, on another he’s not a traditional DM and quite pricey. Also, Wenger reiterated yesterday that we’re most definitely in the market for a defender.
“The only negative today is that we lost another experienced defender with a dislocated shoulder. That gives us a problem because we are already short of experienced players at the back.”
I’d take him along as it means the other signings we need are done. Somehow I don’t see that to be very likely though
If he can be play at CB and CDM too, sign him up!
Actually, if that fat sp*rs fan wants £20m then don’t sign him up. He has improved in 2 years but not enough to warrant an increase in value from £1.7m to £20m !!!
yeah. thanks but no thanks man. we have energizer bunny rosicky.
Say what you wanna say, but this beast outrunned that Dog ca$ley Cole by a mile when he was at Chel$hit, amazing moment that was! We need beasts like him! It’s true that he is a more dynamic midfielder and not a pure CDM.
Dogs are cool. No need to insult them.
Sissoko doing his best impression of Serge Aurier I see.
Jeepers, I had completely forgotten about him already.
20 million, not worth it. I’d rather us go for Schneiderlain at that price; he was a beast against MANURE on the weekend.
Aurier > Cabaye > Sissoko
+
Flutters eyelids at Arse
=
PSG move in the pipeline.
Arteta’s absence from the side proves we need a composed, assured passer of the ball in the “DM” role – not another player who wants to surge forward!
Personally, I don’t really feel we have missed Arteta. The Coq has done very well and to me Arteta is not a real/natural DM..
It’s early days but I think Coquelin has been really impressive since he came back into the side. He seems very motivated, makes good tackles, closes down well, doesn’t surge too far forward and has a good work rate. Admittedly his passing and discipline needs a bit of work but we have looked comfortable with him sat at DM, even against the most brutish team in the Premier League. Personally I feel he deserves to stay in the side based on his recent performances.
Coq looks the part actually. Crucially he is tactically disciplined and much more mobile than Arteta. Streets ahead of Flamini.
He is starting to look a little like the Gilberto Silva-type player we’ve needed for so long.
His tackling is too reckless, though. Not in the stoke game but in the game before he could and probably should have been sent off, and he’s got a yellow in every game he’s played except vs Stoke.
he also flew into tackles against stoke, i rather enjoy it though
It’s *almost* as if a continued run in the team/coaching are improving his game!
I agree, and I don’t even think his passing has been that bad. Keeping in mind the very limited number of appearances so far, he seems more composed on the ball than I remember and than in preseason when he seemed to be bolting around headless all over the place. I think the clearly defined role suits him much more than the freedom of box-to-box. He’s been pretty efficient with controlling and distributing quickly and not fucking around in dangerous areas (Aaron, Jack, Ox – looking at you, lads) and has even shown some deft touches to get a step… Read more »
The Coq has no future at the club. He’s been made to look good by our recent easy run of games but he’s not the guy to be dealing with Silva & co. on the weekend. Wenger didn’t want him only 3 months ago remember? Charlton were his only suitors.
I don’t necessarily disagree but plenty of players are late bloomers and sometimes all they need is a chance.
He’s also been a bit unfortunate in that he was often played out of position in his prior loan spells which didn’t really help his development either.
Like Coquelin
He’s a bit shit though.
Wenger won’t sign a DM unless Coq fucks up spectacularly this month.
I have my doubts. Saw Gunnerblog say on twitter that usually when a player whores himself out in the media to a specific club like this (I’m paraphrasing, of course) it might be an indication that the interest is one-sided or the deal has broken down. Or he might even be pushing for a move elsewhere. I’m not convinced by this.
Decent player but not what we need.
At least 6 poos in my view.
He is good player but I don’t think we need him. Need someone more defensively minded.
“If anything should happen, it will”
Genius
pretty sure it’s the translation.
As a tall and quite rangy black Frenchman playing in central midfield, the failure of media and bloggers alike to whip out the New Vieira label is most troublesome.
Just as well as that label is normally a kiss of death. See Diaby.
I see him as a replacement for Diaby. I am the number one Abou fan in the world and love Wenger’s patience with him but it is just impossible he gets a contract extension this summer. Buying this guy doesn’t mean Arsenal will give up buying a defender. Also, Wilshere and even Ramsey are prone to injuries. Sissoko can play DM, I am sure and drive forward when useful as Vieira used to do. Would be a good buy to me. Agree priority is a CB.
If we can get him for a decent fee, sure. Not 20 million, though. That’s too much to be spending on a replacement for a player who has played maybe 10 games in 5 years.
By looking at the comments Arsene made yesterday I’d say that Arsene Wenger himself got no transfer target whatsoever. Which is unbelievable considering how much time he has had to prepare for this transfer window.
Maybe you should try to brush up with your understanding of English?
“I cannot give you any names because I don’t know.” is what he said. If the meaning of this in your ‘english’ would mean anything different please enlighten me.
That would suggest
1) he got no transfer targets at all. 2) that he turned his poker face on and don’t want to reveal any names.
How long have you been supporting Arsenal? He says the same every time he’s asked about transfers and has done since he joined.
Along with your previous question asking why anybody would think Mourinho is a cunt, this raises some suspicions about you.
Apologies, but Mourinho hasn’t done me or any other arsenal fan anything wrong. What he did do however was insulting Arsene Wenger and it was well deserved I’d say. Some people needs to realise that the club’s name is arsenal FC and not Arsene FC. How long have I been supporting arsenal? Since the early 90’s. I acknowledge arsene wenger for the job he has done during his early years, but I and many other arsenal fans are so fed up with Arsene Wenger now. As for the ‘He says that all the time’, I really do know. But tell… Read more »
Mourinho is a true cunt of a man, and whilst you may knock one out to his petty little snide comments that leaves you in a minority amongst anyone outside of Chelsea fans, and even many of them think he’s a horrid little spiteful cunt.
Fuck Mourinho, if he ever took over at Arsenal it would be one of the only things that would make me reconsider my support for a team that I’ve followed since the late 70s.
Sorry ..but that would prove you support the manager not the club..
Agree Arsene is not Arsenal and boy AW sounds more stupid as time passes..
Mourinho is still a piss sucking cunt though…
If Mourinho were to take over Arsenal it would be the day we would start getting success on a regular basis again.
Mourinho could not be successful at Arsenal. You should look at how much he spends at each club that he has been “successful” at following on from Porto. He basically buys success. I think you mentioned above that the team we support is Arsenal FC. Arsenal FC have a philosophy and attempt to do the right thing. If Mourinho came to Arsenal he would have to follow this philosophy and this would mean he could not just turn up an spend a ridiculous amount of money on players. And I would almost guarantee that he would not be able to… Read more »
Although I agree 100% with the fact that Mourinho is one miserable cunt, there is no doubt that he would be able to give us better results than Arsene Wenger. Btw, where did you get the fact ‘He buys success’? Every manager buys players for the academy/first team and what not so in a sense that is a rule that are pretty much fitting in the description on every manager. As for Mourinho buying expensive players? Let’s stick with the facts now shall we.. IN: Fabregas £30m Diego Costa £32m Filipe Luis £16m OUT: David Luiz £50m Lukaku – £28m… Read more »
Um, nigonner, Remy for 11m. And the previous year they picked up Matic, Willian, Schurrle, van Ginkel, and a few others and had a transfer deficit of nearly 50m. An outlay of over 100m. Under Jose’s watch.
Let’s stick with the facts, shall we?
Chelsea was not bought in one transfer window. Opinions are not facts.
The thought of even putting cuntinho, manager, and Arsenal in the same paragraph disgusts me.
I agree with MPLS’s comment. Furthermore to gain a proper perspective on Chelsea’s finances / financial doping requires a longer review period than simply looking at the previous year. See the excellent Swiss Ramble’s analysis:
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/chelsea-hey-hey-my-my-into-black.html?m=1
Mourinho can be a dick of epic proportions but short of Pep Guardiola and Bayern, it’s hard to argue there is a better coached team than Chelsea (and personally I want City to repeat).
Even star studded Real are not as well structured as Chelsea have been at times this season.
Asserting true Arsenal fans have to dismiss/hate Mourinho is as childish as it gets.
He’s a prick, but also a great manager, the two things are not mutually exclusive.
Looking at comp videos of Coq this season, you would all take him on if he was a new signing. I’ve always liked him, bloody happy he’s getting a run.
WENGER TO PONDER SISSOKO WONGA
Sissoko in would mean that either Wilshere or Ramsey would start missing out on a more regular basis and I don’t think there’s any great reason to think that he’s a better box-to-box midfielder than either of those two. Given that Wenger wasn’t willing to bring back Fabregas as we already had Ozil/ Cazorla then I think we can safely say this is poo.
Jebesus Christus! Sissoko is acres better than Wilshere & Ramsey combined.
Which would not be difficult in fairness
Wenger always does exactly the opposite of what is required in the transfer market so on the basis of us not needing a winger which is where he plays for the toon I’d say this is a one poo assuming that less poos make the transfer more likely.
I’d be happy to sign him, if only because he is an actual living, human, footballer with 2 working legs and eyes
wouldn’t it have been nice if we still had Vermaelen this year…
yep he could have keep Diaby company while he is injured …. because
you know he hasnt kick the balls once since joining Barca
you’re right, my bad
A lot of people on here are mistaken. Sissoko is not a DM, but he’s not even a real box-to-box midfielder. He’s mainly an attacking player, and if you want to compare him to anyone in our squad it’s Rosicky. I’ve followed him a while, he’s one of my favorite players, and despite being big, black and french, he is not the solution to our midfield. If we sell campbell and Rosicky retired, I would love him but I don’t want to sign him and leave him sitting on the bench, hes too good for that.
A lot of people are delusional to think Coq is better than Flamini. His passing rate isn’t even close. He made 3 two footed challenges against HUll that thankfully went unpunished. Had it been Flamini, it would have been an uproar. He has very much the potential to be better than Flamini and he is a player with good technical ability (better than Flamini but Flamini is still that bit more experience. We do not need a DM till the summer. We did not get turned over or bullied in midfield by Hull or Stoke For that matter when Flamini… Read more »