In all fairness, Sissoko is only 22 and has been compared to Vieira for longer than I care to remember. Yea, I know comparisons like that are crap, but Vieira did not become a force until later in his 20's. What bothers me is Sissoko's price, and Ranieri's obsession with him. The price is entirely too high for someone like that.
The truth to the matter is, he is dispensable by Liverpool, and they need money to sign Mascherano (as someone here said earlier), and so they are trying to drive the price up. This is a very smart strategy. Sissoko also does not fit their system anymore, as they are done rebuilding (they have the base and are developing the young players that now have time to develop -- following the Arsenal model) and don't need a destroyer quite like that anymore. Look at the talent (irrespective of Mascherano who is on similar level as Pirlo, and thus is as perfect of a solution for a holding MF as they get -- defend, distribute, create... can do it all very well) they have been amassing in midfield, all capable of defending well: Lucas, Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Spearing, Guthrie.
I know some of these are not DM per se, but stick with me.
So let's say you are a certain Spanish-born coach in England, and you want to retain one of the best DM talents in the world, but your ownership thinks he is too expensive. You know you can develop some ridiculous talent because you have done so in the past. You have a great mix of young and experienced defenders so you do not need a midfield destroyer extraordinaire, and you have a young and talented teenage wizkid from Brazil gaining experience to eventually take over (if you think Lucas was not bought to be an alternative to Mascherano, replace Gerrard once he is too old, or at least developed to be in rotation to give Xabi Alonso, Gerrard, and/or Mascherano a rest, then you are a fool). And you play in EPL, which is not known for its defense-oriented, well organized playing style (proof: besides some Chelsea and Manchester United players, are there any truly world-class defenders in EPL? Even Arsenal -- now, and really ever -- uses young (there are exceptions don't go throwing me under the bus for this), promising 1st class defenders who are on their way, but not yet truly world-class)
So, what do you do as such manager?
Out with the least fitting, most expensive player....Sissoko. Its brilliant!
To get something straight though before I continue: I am not saying he isn't good. But he is not spectacular. I am saying he could be. But is that what we are buying him for? I don't think so.
Hence, what we should not do, is buy him in a deal as offered to us. Why?:
A) He is not a finished product, and that's what you should get for a high-profile transfer like that
B) ...for the ridiculous price tag they ask for him.
C) We should not allow Liverpool to retain Mascherano like that (because as long as he did not sign already there is a chance to get him, I don't care how slim)
D) Juve should not appease Ranieri (and his obsession with Momo, which is well documented btw.)
D) being the most important -- Ranieri has plenty of other, cheaper options. If he wants to develop players use Marchisio, Nocerino, or buy Mavuba or some random player from central europe and hope he becomes "the new Nedved" or "the Hamsik" for half the price, make him into what you hope Momo will become and then sell him for profit to get whoever is available that will make us a great team.
*It is important to point out that besides Emo (did I just call him world-class?) and Vieira, we never had a world-class destroyer. Conte, Dechamps, Blasi (I know, I know), Toricelli, Tacchinardi....I can keep going, did well because of our strength in defense, and creativity or potency on offense -- so why do we need one now? Because defense is crap, and we are rebuilding? I am not convinced, but so be it.
**Also, development of young players in the holding MF position won't happen because Ranieri can't really develop talent like that...
Additionally, if(and when) Ranieri gets sacked, chances are Momo will not be welcomed to stay with new boss' scheme.
We'll have an older, about equally skilled, and not much better developed, expensive player on our books, who at some point did not even identify us as a great team (saying Liverpool is greater than Juventus is a joke, if you want to get into this discussion, PM me and I'll shatter your arguments), and who will potentially bully us over playing time, and wages -- this is before we even know whether he is even effective in Italian club competition. In short the guy has a bad attitude (wow truly a Vieira parallel now), potential which may or may not ever be unlocked, and if unsuccessful, he and his patron (Ranieri) will cost us a great deal of money, which can be useful somewhere else.
Its not like Ranieri will further develop him. Lets not forget he already coached him in Valencia, and he was ineffective as a player, and once Claudio got the chop, Sissoko was sold....in short this player has been Ranieri's dream for a long time, and he never panned out like predicted.
Bottom line: Sissoko is not worth the buy, yet. When (IF) he is or is close to becoming like Vieira (in his prime of course), then let's get him.
Besides he's always a liability -- injuries, cards etc.
Let's not let Momo be our new version of Appiah.
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