Player Profile

Born to Mali parents in France, Momo Sissoko opted to play for Mali after featuring for the French u-21 team. He has a biting tackle and is a formidable shield for any defence. Sissoko was nurtured in Auxerre’s respected academy playing as a striker for the reserves, scoring 50 goals in two years according to his website. Rafa Benítez brought the youngster over to Valencia in 2003 before he made his first-team debut at Auxerre and developed his game in a new position as a defensive midfielder. Despite his young age Rafa picked him from the start in nine La Liga matches as well as bringing him on as a substitute on 12 occasions in his debut campaign. He also featured in nine UEFA Cup matches so he played an active part in Valencia’s double success in La Liga and the UEFA Cup in 2004.

Sissoko continued to impress at Mestalla following Benítez’ departure to Liverpool. Everton were about to capture the promising midfielder when Rafa became aware of his availability and “stole” him straight from under the Blues’ noses. Benítez made big claims that “Momo” would become a better player than Vieira. Sissoko’s hyperactive performances in the middle of the park earned him rave reviews. It was a dramatic first season as an eye injury received against Benfica in the Champions League in February 2006 threatened to end his playing career. When he returned a month later, he had to wear safety goggles, which he soon discarded as they were steaming up. The season ended on a high as Liverpool beat West Ham in the FA Cup final. Momo played from the start as he had done in 36 other matches during the season.

Momo was Man of the match in Liverpool’s win over Chelsea in the Community Shield. As his second season progressed he wasn’t his usual self, whether his eye injury had affected his confidence or just plainly finding it tougher as his performances were not as surprising to his opponents.  Momo clearly had to improve on the technical aspects of his game, namely his close control and passing. He suffered another bad injury against Birmingham in the fourth round of the League Cup in November 2006, dislocating his shoulder and was out of action for three months. Javier Mascherano’s arrival in February 2007 meant more competition in midfield. As the 2007/08 season began, Sissoko was on the bench for the opening two games against Aston Villa and Toulouse. He wasn’t even in the squad for the first home League match against Chelsea but played from the start at Sunderland a week later, where he amazed everyone by scoring his first Liverpool goal with a sweet strike from the edge of the penalty area. It was also his last Liverpool goal because it became clear as far as the manager was concerned that Sissoko was no longer essential to the squad. He started the League Cup tie at Chelsea a few days before Christmas, 2007 but it was the last time he would pull on a Liverpool shirt. By the end of January 2008, he was a Juventus player. At least the club made a decent profit on the reported £5+ million it had paid Valencia in 2005. Claudio Ranieri brought Sissoko over to Italy. They were old acquaintances as Ranieri had been his boss for one season, 2004/05 at Valencia. Sissoko was a regular as Juventus finished League runners-up to Inter Milan in 2009, but the rest of his career in Turin was curtailed by a broken metatarsal and a knee injury. After six months of rehabilitation, Sissoko made his debut in September 2011 for the upcoming European giants at Paris St Germain, whom he had joined in the summer. Sissoko had continuing knee trouble in his first campaign in Paris during which he made 27 starts and missed the first two months of the 2012/13 season as he injured his left knee in a pre-season friendly. He was loaned to Fiorentina in the January 2013 transfer-window.

Sissoko made only seven first-team appearances for Paris Saint-Germain in 2012/13 before moving to Italy. Injury also restricted the number of appearances he made with Fiorentina, just five before his loan-spell finished. He was released from his contract at PSG in the summer of 2013 and was a free agent until he signed a six-month contract with Spanish club Levante in January 2014. The midfielder played in ten La Liga matches as the club from Valencia finished the season in a respectable 10th place with 48 points from their 38 matches. Sissoko signed a two-year deal with Levante in the summer of 2014, but a year into this left to join Shanghai Shenhua in China, where he was in the side that lost the cup final over two legs. Although Sissoko attended a training camp in Spain in February 2016 in readiness for the new season, he left soon afterwards with no explanation, instead just posting a good luck message on his Twitter account. Over the next two and a half years he had a nomadic existence, playing in Italy, Indonesia, Mexico and Hong Kong, as well as having a trial game for West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League 2 league. In January 2019 he moved to Sochaux in the French second division on a deal taking him to the end of the season. He appeared thirteen times and in each one of them either came off the bench or was taken off himself. After failing to find a club for 2019-20, he announced his retirement from playing on 13th January 2020, telling French TV channel RMC Sport "If I am here this evening, it is to tell you that it is the end for me. I stop my career, it is a decision really difficult to take and to say". He had special words for Liverpool too, telling the club website he was happy to have the love of the supporters and hoped to come to Anfield soon.