Transfer Rumours

Newcastle’s Moussa Sissoko valuation revealed after Milan approach

Looking at a major rebuilding job this summer, AC Milan have approached Newcastle with an enquiry for Moussa Sissoko.

According to Sky Italia, the Serie A club weren’t impressed by the 22m euros (approx £15.5m) asking price quoted for the French midfielder, which would be on top of satisfying a player already on Premier League wages.

Whilst Steve McClaren has declared that he wants to build his team around Sissoko, it is still difficult to see exactly where he ideally fits into the Newcastle team that the Head Coach is overseeing.

With Florian Thauvin’s transfer expected to be announced any time soon, it will take Newcastle’s spending up to around the £48m mark, with less than £3m banked this summer from the sale of Davide Santon.

Ignoring the near £10m banked from the departures of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa & Alan Pardew in January, as well as the under-investment of previous seasons, it is still hard for many fans to believe that there won’t be at least one major outgoing transfer this summer to help balance Mike Ashley’s NUFC books.

With Moussa Sissoko the most saleable asset of the players who were at the club last season, as well as the Frenchman’s regular quotes about wanting to play for a Champions League/’bigger’ club one day, little wonder he is seen as the most likely of the first team to be sold.

AC Milan only finished 10th in Serie A last season and so don’t have Champions League football this season, but they have already spent over £60m to try and put themselves back in a competitive position. Having already brought in players such as Carlos Bacca, Alessio Romagnolio and Andrea Bertolacci, they are looking to add more big names to get back into the top European competition and the money it brings.

Forced off through injury against Swansea, there has been no clarification by the club as to how serious, or not, the injury is. Steve McClaren having described it as a problem with Sissoko’s groin in his post-match interview.

After exploding into the first team when he arrived, Moussa Sissoko has largely disappointed compared to the promise he showed on that day when he scored two in the win against Chelsea and showed Ashley Cole a clean pair of heels despite giving him a couple of yards head start.

Interesting to see if Mike Ashley is willing to cash in on Moussa Sissoko if the right offer comes in and even more interesting to see where Steve McClaren sees the midfielder playing, if he does honestly see the French international being at the heart of his new look Newcastle United.