Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has ripped into summer signing Moussa Sissoko after leaving him out of his squad at the weekend against Chelsea.
Spurs saw their unbeaten start to the Premier League season ended by their London rivals on Saturday evening, as they fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat.
That result leaves them in fifth place in the table, four points adrift of the top four, and Pochettino wasn’t in a good mood in general.
The Argentine coach left Sissoko out of his squad for the trip to Stamford Bridge, and explained the reasons behind the decision which will send a clear message to the former Newcastle United man that much more is expected of him moving forward.
“Football is not about money,” he is quoted as saying by The Sun.
“It is about you being better and that you show on the training ground that you are better than another team-mate and that you deserve to be involved or not.
“You sign a player then you expect something and you don’t find what you expected. If another deserves to be involved, he needs to work hard in future and show that he deserves to be in the team.
“Because we pay money do they deserve to be in the team?”
As noted by The Sun, Spurs splashed out £30m on the 27-year-old to make him their joint-record signing, and ultimately he hasn’t delivered what they expected as of yet.
In turn, coupled with Pochettino’s warning above, the French international will have to provide a positive reaction and step up and deliver, otherwise he may well find himself on the sidelines a bit more often.
It was a miserable week for Tottenham as they also crashed out of the Champions League, and so Pochettino certainly has issues to solve in order to get his side back firing and in a positive mood.