Moussa Sissoko has admitted that he wanted to leave Tottenham Hotspur just six months after signing for the club in 2016.
Tottenham signed Sissoko from Newcastle United for £30m following the Magpies’ relegation to the Championship and the Frenchman initially struggled to break into Mauricio Pochettino’s starting eleven.
When chances did come his way, the midfielder struggled to take them, and he was largely a bit-part player throughout his first season at the club, with Spurs going on to finish second with 86 points during the 2016-17 season.
However, Sissoko did go on to prove himself over the next couple of years, particularly endearing himself to the Tottenham faithful during the club’s run to the Champions League final in 2019.
The midfielder’s five-year spell at Spurs came to an end lastt year when he joined Watford but the French international’s time at Vicarage Road did not go as planned after the Hornets could not preserve their Premier League status.
He returned to France over the summer, signing for FC Nantes, and he has now been speaking about his career in the Premier League.
Sissoko told the Ligue 1 club’s podcast, Le Groupe Pro about his time at Tottenham (as translated by HITC): “Few people know this, but after the first six months, I went to see the chairman and I told him I wanted to leave because my game time was really limited and it wasn’t what I wanted.
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“He spoke to me, told me there’s a need for time to adapt, and once I had calmed down, I asked myself the right questions.”
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Sissoko was not the only one who wanted to leave at the time soon after joining Spurs. It is worth remembering that Son Heung-min wanted to leave the club in 2016, just a year after joining and had to be talked out of it by Pochettino.
Perhaps, their turnarounds could serve as a lesson for the likes of Yves Bissouma and Djed Spence to be patient, and grab opportunities when they are presented to them.
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