Howey believes Newcastle United fans will be delighted with the £30m Tottenham Hotspur paid for the French international midfielder.
Newcastle’s Moussa Sissoko in action with Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen
Moussa Sissoko has been the subject of much criticism in recent weeks and now former Newcastle man Steve Howey is the latest to offer his views on the player, speaking to Sky Sports News HQ on Thursday.
The ex-defender spent 11 years on Tyneside and feels his old club should be very pleased to have received £30m for a player who underperformed during his time at St. James’ Park.
“If you go up to Newcastle, you’ll be wondering why there’s a lot of people doing cartwheels along the street,” Howey joked on Sky Sports News HQ.
“I think the business that Rafa Benitez has done, with Janmaat, Wijnaldum and Sissoko for £60-odd million is just ridiculous.
“He’s one of the main reasons why Newcastle got relegated. So £30m is a lot of money.”
Steve Howey in action for Newcastle
Howey’s bold views can be somewhat backed up by the fact that Sissoko scored just once in the league last season, fewer than defenders Daryl Janmaat and Jamaal Lascelles despite the latter starting only 10 times in the Premier League last term.
Considering Sissoko was often deployed in an advanced midfield role, such a low return in terms of goals does not make for good reading from a Tottenham perspective.
However, Sissoko was one of the standout players at Euro 2016 showing just how good a player he can be, and should Spurs get ‘that’ Sissoko then £30m won’t seem like such a bad deal after all.
Portugal’s Adrien Silva in action with France’s Moussa Sissoko
“With Sissoko I think the disappointing thing with him was we knew how good he was,” Howey continued.
“He is a good player, he’s very quick he’s very strong and he can run with the ball – it was evident in the Euros but he just didn’t do it often enough when it was needed at Newcastle.”
Clearly Sissoko’s attitude was not right for a club who were in a relegation battle, but as a player who seems to perform almost exclusively on the bigger stage a move to a Champions League side could be exactly what he needs in order to fulfill his potential.
France’s Moussa Sissoko and referee Mark Clattenburg
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