Juve move an 'honour’ for Sissoko
Jan 29 2008
by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post
MOMO SISSOKO has revealed his “pride and honour” at the prospect of representing Juventus.
The Mali man put the finishing touches to his move from Liverpool last night before flying back from Turin to Ghana to represent Mali in their final African Cup of Nations group game against Ivory Coast.
Sissoko initially left his country’s camp to head to Italy for a medical, which he passed before agreeing a five-year contract.
The midfielder admitted his relief that the transfer, which has taken almost the entirety of the January window to complete, has erased the doubts he had about his future.
Sissoko said: “I know my future now and I know which club I will belong to when I will return.
“It is a pride and an honour to wear the colours of Juve.”
Sissoko arrived on Merseyside in the summer of 2005 for £5.6million after initially breaking into the Valencia first team under Rafael Benitez before he took over at Anfield.
However, held back by an eye injury among other things, he failed to fulfil his early potential and has been restricted to just 14 appearances in all competitions this season.
The £9million Liverpool will scoop for selling the 23-year-old could yet go towards funding a permanent deal for Javier Mascherano before the transfer window closes on Thursday.
A £17million fee has already been agreed with the Argentine’s owners MSI with Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks revealing this week that he is prepared to endorse the deal.
Benitez has intimated he will wait until the summer to secure Mascherano but hints from the player’s agent that Italian clubs will also come in for him at the end of the season will increase the Spaniard’s determination to tie up the transfer.
One player set to stay at Anfield
beyond the current window is John Arne Riise, whose agent Jan Kvalheim insists that reported interest from Newcastle United and Aston Villa will not come to any fruition.
“There are probably a lot of teams thinking about making a bid,” said Kvalheim. “But nothing will happen.
“He has one-and-a-half years left on his contract.
“It hasn’t been an issue or important that he is sold in the transfer window – it is only journalists in England and Norway that are speculating.”
Meanwhile, Dirk Kuyt immediately turned his attention to Wembley after yesterday’s draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup was kind to Liverpool once again.
After the 5-2 victory over Blue Square South side Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday, Liverpool were handed another home tie against Barnsley.
It’s the third round in succession they have been paired with a team from a lower division and although the Tykes, 16th in the Championship, are the highest-ranked of their opponents so far, the pairing of Manchester United with Arsenal underlines how much the draw could now open up for the 2006 winners.
“I think we can go all the way in the FA Cup and we have the quality to beat every team,” Kuyt said.
“We have to just focus on ourselves and believe in ourselves. Even though we are not playing our best football at the moment I think we will soon be back to our best.
“Last year we lost to Arsenal in the third round which was disappointing but his season we have played Luton Town and Havant & Waterlooville. So we will see what happens but we have to be ready for every team.
“We have got the FA Cup and the Champions League still to play for. We should really do better in the league but we also want to win every trophy that is possible.”
FA Cup fifth round draw (ties to be played on weekend of February 16/17): Bristol Rovers v Southampton, Cardiff v Wolves, Sheff Utd v Middlesbrough, Liverpool v Barnsley, Manchester United v Arsenal, Preston v Portsmouth, Coventry v West Brom, Chelsea v Huddersfield.
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