Moussa Sissoko should escape Tottenham on loan

Midfielder Moussa Sissoko could be worth something to Tottenham Hotspur in the future, but only after a loan spell with a different club.

Tottenham Hotspur have a unique recent history as it pertains to unexpected deadline-day transfers. Midfielder Scott Parker was seen by some as a “bargain-bin” acquisition signed by former manager Harry Redknapp in August 2011, but he ultimately became worthy of being named captain for Spurs and for England. Clint Dempsey scored multiple meaningful and memorable goals for Tottenham after making the move to White Hart Lane on August 31, 2012.

Thus, Tottenham putting pen to paper on a deal with Newcastle United midfielder Moussa Sissoko on August 31, 2016 wasn’t much cause for concern. Sure, the transfer didn’t make a ton of sense to individuals evaluating the club’s squad from the outside, but the hope, if not the assumption, was that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and manager Mauricio Pochettino had a plan unknown to supporters and had struck gold in the midnight hour.

Roughly one year after the ink on that contract dried, we now know the Sissoko acquisition was essentially a blindfolded dart-throw that missed the board, entirely. The 27-year-old failed to even flirt being worth the supposed £30 million price-tag placed upon him ahead of his Tottenham switch, and he became somewhat of a forgotten figure outside of occasions when he earned scorn from supporters on social media platforms for one reason or another.

The nail in the coffin of Sissoko’s Tottenham tenure may have been hammered home as far back as last November, less than three months after he completed his transfer to Spurs. It was then, per BBC Sport, when Pochettino elected to verbally eviscerate a player he apparently never actively pursued in the first place:

"“Football is not about money,” said Pochettino.“You need to show on the training ground you are better than another team-mate and you deserve to be involved.”"

Pochettino wasn’t done:

"“If you sign a player and you expect something and you do not find what you expect and if another deserves to be involved, like (Georges-Kevin) Nkoudou or (Vincent) Janssen – why? Because we paid money we need to put the player to play?”"

Sissoko’s Tottenham stint unsurprisingly failed to improve following that moment, as he became surplus to requirements for a squad that chased the Premier League title up through the spring. Even before May rolled around, it felt as if it was a matter of when and how, not if, Tottenham would sell Sissoko once the summer transfer window officially opened.

A funny thing about transfers is that opposing clubs often aren’t keen on spending high quantities of money on talents seen as castoffs. While Mr. Levy has grown a reputation for being particularly stingy during this portion of the calendar, even clubs with deep pockets and a willingness to spend and spend big would, in ideal scenarios, like to save some pennies on moves for these types of players.

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Perhaps the worst thing Pochettino and Tottenham did over the past nine months was figuratively put a “for sale” sign over Sissoko’s status. It’s for that reason rumors linking Sissoko with a potential loan move to Everton for the 2017-18 season should only excite Spurs and club supporters heading into August.

Admittedly, Everton have done well to bolster their squad this summer, so much so that some may see Spurs adding any potential depth to the Toffees as a step in the wrong direction. While such fears may be logical, on paper, all would do well to realize Sissoko is now a lost Tottenham cause and a man who will soon exist only as a faded memory among the Spurs faithful.

Once Pochettino is done with a player and has made up his mind on the matter, any discussions on that subject are forever closed. Anybody doubting that can ask Kyle Walker. The success Pochettino has enjoyed as Tottenham boss has awarded him with this freedom, which is why Tottenham providing Sissoko with a temporary exit en route to a permanent switch is what’s best for all.

Related Story: Scott Parker: Underrated star

The hope is that Sissoko will impress during a stint at Everton to the point Tottenham will be able to retrieve at least part of the fee the club paid to sign him last summer. That, as of late July 2017, is the only positive left for Tottenham to claim from this failed experiment.