da jogodeouro： Football is an extremely strange game indeed.
da aviator aposta： One minute you can be on-top of the world, the next you can be reduced to a shivering wreck after the Daily Star newspaper awarded you a two out of 10 for your performance the week after. It really is a strange business to be in.
And recently, this can’t be applied to anyone more than Newcastle United midfielder Moussa Sissoko, who has had as many ups and downs as Steve Bruce swinging on a non-stop bungee rope.
His France side were well fancied Euro 2016, but Sissoko wasn’t supposed to be a first-team player. But a couple of group games in, Didier Deschamps gave him his chance and somehow he managed to keep Premier League winning N’Golo Kante out of the side for the rest of the competition.
How did he do it? With performances packed with power, pace and aggression – all traits we haven’t been used to seeing when watching him for the Toon in the season just gone by. He looked reformed, revitalised and most importantly, showed touting teams just what he can do.
And how have Newcastle responded? By reportedly slapping a £35million bounty on his head, a whopping fee to pay for a player who has failed to perform all season at a domestic level. Watching Sissoko on the European stage must have been teeth-gritting stuff for the Toon Army, who have watched the Frenchman slog it out in possibly one of the worst Newcastle sides we’ve seen for decades.
A particularly painful memory would have been watching newly-promoted Bournemouth humble the Geordies 3-1 at St James’ Park in March, with Sissoko playing the comic book villain especially well that day. Every touch was jeered and when he was finally heaved off by the clueless McClaren, the Toon Army finally had something to cheer about.
That is the sort of level we’re talking about here – it’s a real rags to riches story. But by no-means does it warrant a £35million transfer fee. Sissoko might be a little annoyed by this, after he’s spent his whole summer banging on about Arsenal being a “beautiful club”.
Say what you want, Moussa, but all the compliments in the world aren’t going to get a Champions League side to stump up that sort of cash for a player who doesn’t put it in when needed.
Sissoko just wasn’t there when Newcastle needed him most, and we saw this on numerous occasions last season – and not just in that game against the Cherries. He often bore the resentment of the St James’ crowd because they knew how good he could be and again, we saw that again out in France.
Sissoko might be batting his eyelids, trying to do everything he can to stop his first game of next season being Fulham away but if that £35million price tag is for real, he might be struggling.
Could we see another Odemwingie-esque tantrum between now and the end of the transfer window?
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