stmichael wrote:I was just thinking you know, we paid £5 million pounds for this kid where as Chelsea paid £24 for Michael Essien. Despite Chelsea's obviously inflated transfer market, this statistic is quite staggering when you look at the two players. Whilst I'm sure Essien is a better player than what he has showed so far in this country, I just don't see what the guy really has to offer that Sissoko doesn't.
I think the Essien comparison is quite apt, given their styles of play. The difference is that Momo has come in with little fanfare and has far exceeded expectations, while Essien came in with the floodlights on him and has failed to scale the lofty heights as expected with all the hype.
This is to take nothing away from Momo at all...he has had a better season than Essien IMO. I just think it has benefited Sissoko to have come in the position of being considered as 'one for the future' rather than as an essential part of the central midfield (well, at least at first). Put another way, if he had come in as Gerrard's replacement, would he have been able to handle that pressure?
Another interesting comparison between Essien and Momo is how they are employed by their respective managers. As Big Mick pointed out in another thread, Mourinho does not seem to use Essien to his full capacity--he tends to want him to sit deep and break play up alongside Makelele rather than bombing forward (except on Saturday when, inexplicably, he asked him to be the point in the diamond formation instead of Lampard!). Mourinho seems very cautious about letting Essien play box to box. Contrast this with Rafa, who is more than content to let Sissoko cover every blade of grass, bomb forward as needed and generally harrass and harry the other team anywhere on the pitch.
FWIW, I think Essien will bed in and start to come good for Chelsea next season...he's not the terrible player that some make him out to be and his style suits the English game. Having said that, Momo's every bit as good as Essien on current form and he has tremendous potential to improve his game for the future.
I think in years to come, we'll look back on Momo's signing as one of the shrewdest bits of business Rafa has ever conducted (right up there with signing Xabi, IMO).