According to Le 10 Sport, West Ham are now front runners to sign Moussa Sissoko from Newcastle after his impressive turn out against Portugal for France on Sunday.
Sissoko has flattered to deceive for Newcastle in recent seasons, but has been showing great form for France and a real desire to push his team forward. His price tag will have shot up after his performance and he lacks consistency, but would he be a good signing?
Le 10 Sport believe that the deal would cost at least 20 million Euros, so around £17 million but Newcastle are no slouches in the transfer market and will get as much as they possibly can from Sissoko’s Euro 2016 performance.
If he were available for £17 million, the deal would depend on Slaven Bilic’s impressions of the player. Sissoko would need to perform at a much higher level than he has been in the Premier League, but could do a job as a third midfielder against the bigger teams or even as right sided midfielder if required. His versatility is a big factor, and it looks like he would be suited to a midfield 3 ahead of Noble and Kouyate.
If Bilic can drive some consistency into his game, then £17 million would be a reasonable fee. But there is no guarantee that Sissoko can have a full season at a decent level. A world beater one game, and he will disappear the next. It is a massive gamble at a large price that will probably mean that the deal shouldn’t happen and most likely won’t.
Sissoko would bring depth in useful positions, but with the signings of Tore and Feghouli, unless Sissoko sees himself as a central midfielder by trade it wouldn’t be worth anywhere near the money that Newcastle would be asking for.
If Sissoko performed at that level throughout Euro 2016, rather than just the final, then it would be another story. But buying players based on one game, no matter which game that is, doesn’t sound like the West Ham way. He hasn’t shown enough in the past two seasons to justify a price tag that is more than £15 million, so it would be truly shocking to see David Sullivan considering bidding for the Frenchman at that price.
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