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Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko in talks with Liverpool & Newcastle United
The highly rated 21-year-old may leave the French club this summer but the club’s president has demanded a £13.3m fee for the midfielder

Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko is in negotiations with Liverpool and Newcastle United over a potential transfer, while Inter and Lyon are also frontrunners for the midfielder’s signature, Goal.com have been told.

The 21-year-old is set for a high-profile move away from Le Tefece after a string of influential performances in Ligue 1 last season.

Sissoko’s agent insists the France international has several offers tabled, with the offer from fellow French side Lyon being the strongest.

“The link with Lyon is serious, but it is not the only one,” said his agent, Bacary Sanogo. “There are also negotiations with Liverpool, Newcastle and Inter. Things should seriously move next week.”

SOURCE: Goal.com

Clearly any move for further midfield reinforcements would become more relevant if Liverpool were to offload one of their many midfield options first. There has been much speculation that Portuguese international Raul Meireles is not being offered the improved contract he was reportedly promised and that could lead to his exit, which would be mighty strange as he was one of the best performers for the Anfield side last term.

The signing of Jordan Henderson from Sunderland would also seem to suggest that Italian international Alberto Aquilani will make a permanent move back to Serie A but only once there asking price is met for a midfielder who is very much back in the swing of things after his nightmare campaign at the Merseyside club in 2008/09.

Moussa Sissoko is two types of midfielder in one. The powerfully built 21 year old is a tough tackler who is a determined performer, however the Toulouse man is more than just a defensive midfielder, he also has an eye for goal and the ability to stride forwards to help link midfield and attack.

Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli knows Sissoko well from his connections in the French international set-ups where the talented youngster was at first a regular in the Under 21 side and now very much part of Laurent Blanc’s long term national team plans.

The asking price of €15m(£13.3m) is a perfectly fair price in today’s transfer market, in fact given the player’s potential and what he has already shown for both club and country I would go as far as to say that the price was a bargain.

Newcastle United are also interested but one would imagine a move to Anfield would be more tempting given that things at St James’ Park seem a little unstable following the loss of the club’s captain to West Ham and extensive talk about the possible loss of Jonas Gutierrez, Jose Enrique and Joey Barton.

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Liverpool Set to Complete £18m Powerhouse Signing: Anfield Side Continue Rebuilding With Quality French International

The Newshound — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:25:51 +0000

Damien Comolli seeks to secure deal to bring Toulouse star to Anfield.

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Liverpool are poised to beat Tottenham and Manchester United to the signing of France midfielder Moussa Sissoko.
The Toulouse star, 21, has been on the radar of British clubs for the past four years and turned down Liverpool and Bolton to sign professional terms with his French club as a teenager.
Spurs have emerged as strong suitors over recent seasons and were close to a deal 18 months ago, only to be told he was valued at £18million.

However, the arrival of Damien Comolli and some of Tottenham’s former scouting staff has coincided with Liverpool monitoring him again and he looks destined for Anfield in the summer providing a fee can be agreed.
Sissoko is understood to have told friends that Liverpool is his preference, despite turning them down again in the summer.

SOURCE: Daily Mail

Moussa Sissoko is a big burly midfielder who works well from box to box, strong in the tackle but also able to pull off rangy 30 yard passes and make deft touches to set team-mates free. He also has a knack of scoring crucial goals. Some French pundits see him as having the combined attributes of Lassana Diarra and Patrick Vieira, which would explain why so many of Europe’s elite are after the Toulouse star.

Now a fixture in the French national team set-up, Damien Comolli has been running the rule on the 21 year old for some time and this source believes a deal is in the pipeline to bring the youngster from the Paris suburbs to Merseyside.

Liverpool could well do with a player like Sissoko as they look to plan for the future and it appears that the club’s new owners are more than happy to fund moves for players who show good potential and the good re-sale value.

Some Anfield supporters believe the club has never really replaced Xabi Alonso and the French international could do some of the jobs the Spaniard did so well and is also able to put in tackles in the manner of a Javier Mascherano. At present the club has Lucas putting in the donkey work with Raul Meireles on hand to pass the ball about and that pairing has done fairly well since Kenny Dalglish came into the picture.

Steven Gerrard could however benefit from the kind of protection and time on the ball that he could gain from having the young Sissoko helping him out. Definitely one for the future who is already able to impress in the here and now.

Some sources are suggesting that a deal could involve David N’Gog moving, either temporarily or permanently, to Toulouse as part of any package to sign Moussa Sissoko.

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Manchester United Plot Move to Sign £16m French International to Strengthen Midfield

Christian Bailey — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:03:06 +0000

Sir Alex Ferguson keen on bringing Toulouse youngster to Old Trafford.

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Sir Alex Ferguson will consider launching a bid to sign French international Moussa Sissoko when the transfer window re-opens. The Old Trafford boss is keen to bring in further central midfield options and has been monitoring the box to box Toulouse midfielder for some time and may make an offer for the £16m rated youngster this summer.

The 21 year old from the Paris suburbs is now in his fourth season in the Toulouse first team and has impressed many with his commanding displays at the heart of the club’s midfield and has previously courted interest from Tottenham, who had a big offer for Sissoko turned down in 2009.

Toulouse boss Alain Casanova is apparently resigned to losing the talented youngster to a ‘bigger’ club and a move to the Premier League could well interest the powerfully built Sissoko and clearly interest from table topping Manchester United will be gratefully received by Sissoko, not least because his side are languishing in mid table in Ligue 1.

Ferguson is looking to add more steel to his midfield and whilst the likes of Darren Fletcher, Anderson and Michael Carrick are capable of getting stuck in, the lack of a more aggressive competitor is something that the Man United boss is keen to resolve. The fact that Owen Hargreaves is still sidelined makes such a search all the more pressing.

Sissoko is a tigerish midfielder who is capable of making telling tackles as well as weighing in with his fair share of goals from midfield and has been likened to French international legend Patrick Vieira.

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Liverpool Set to Make Bid for £16m Rated French International: Players Agent Claims Gignac On His Way to Anfield

The Newshound — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:48:19 +0000

Anfield boss interested in Toulouse forward?

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Toulouse striker Andre-Pierre Gignac could be on his way to Liverpool, according to French reports.
The Sport 10 network said that Gignac’s agent is trying to push through a move to the Anfield outfit.
The 24-year-old is a tall, strong striker with great finishing abilities. He has great control and can beat defenders with his skill in tight situations. He is also takes dangerous free-kicks.
Gignac scored 11 goals for Toulouse FC last season.
He is contracted to his club until 2013 and he is valued at €15M-20M. (IMScouting)

24 year old French international Gignac is very much your old fashioned style of forward and a player who has built up a reputation in Ligue 1 but has not managed to secure a move away from the fairly modest Toulouse club he represents.

This source believes that Roy Hodgson may be interested and that the player’s agent is looking to push through a move to the Anfield side. I am not sure how accurate such claims are and this could be a case of a player’s representative trying to simply stir up interest in his client but that being said, the big striker could prove a decent foil for Fernando Torres.

He won’t be cheap though and a fee of around £16m would be required to persuade his side to sell. That is of course a pretty big outlay for the Merseyside club to fork out given their financial hardships at this time but if the club offloads Javier Mascherano then perhaps some of that cash may make its way into the bosses transfer funds.

Hodgson is more than aware that the club could need more attacking options and Gignac is a player who could well be suited to the Premier League and has proven himself in France and at international level.

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West Ham Plan Ambitious Move for £12m French International: Hammers Eye Up André-Pierre Gignac

Christian Bailey — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:31:22 +0000

Upton Park outfit prepare big money bid for promising forward.

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West Ham are reportedly interested in making a big money move for Toulouse forward Andre-Pierre Gignac. The managerless club have come up with a short list of proposed targets which may or may not have been constructed by an incoming boss and high up on that list is the impressive French international.

The 24 year old finished top scorer in Ligue 1 in 2008/09 but this term failed to reach those heady heights as his Toulouse side struggled to emulate their fourth place finish. However Gignac has impressed at international level four goals in the World Cup qualifying campaign to help cement his place in Raymond Domenech’s World Cup squad.

Some may see any move for the tall target man as a potential replacement for Carlton Cole but the east London club has today denied that they are set to lose the former Chelsea man, not least because no potential suitor has made a bid they deem worthy of their attention.

Gignac has been a reported target of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger but an average season in Ligue 1, where he managed just 8 goals, may have ended any interest from the Emirates outfit.

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Arsenal Close In On £12m Midfielder Considered the “New Vieira”

Steven Constable — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:24:47 +0000

Arsene Wenger wants to bring in talented midfielder to the Emirates.

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Arsenal are set to step up the chase for Toulouse midfielder Moussa Sissoko. Arsene Wenger has been linked with the 20 year old French international who has been dubbed the “New Vieira” and is ready in the aftermath of another trophy-less season to splash the cash to snap up the £12m valued rangy battler.

Sissoko has been in past two seasons and has helped the Ligue 1 overachievers to a fourth place finish last term and helped Toulouse to a solid mid table placing and a decent run in the Europa League that has seen him get a call up to the French line up and could sneak into the Raymond Domenech’s World Cup squad.

The young midfielder combines brute strength and guile, Sissoko is able to bridge defence and attack and weighs in with more than his fair share of goals but is also adept at breaking down opposition moves and is a determined customer who Wenger could well see as the kind of player who’s potential he could unlock and make into a household name.

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