For once, a transfer deadline day delivered.
The 31st of August 2016 will probably now always be remembered as the day Tottenham bought a Championship player for £30m, and now it’s up to Moussa Sissoko to live up to his price tag.
The France international, who left his national team’s training camp on Wednesday morning to sort out his future, was in between three clubs all throughout the day, and finally decided Tottenham was the one for him.
According to L’Equipe on Thursday, his first port of call on transfer deadline day wasn’t with Spurs or Everton, it was Chelsea.
Antonio Conte’s side were in talks with the player’s representatives, despite Tottenham feeling as if they were in the lead, but that broke down fairly quickly and no agreement was found with either Newcastle or Sissoko.
The French newspaper report that, at this stage, Tottenham were actually offering him less money than he was currently on at Newcastle, deciding to play the Champions League card rather than the financial one.
Everton then came in with their money, letting the Sissoko clan know they’d reached an agreement with Newcastle, and everyone set off for Merseyside.
It all looked set until, half an hour before the end of the window, Tottenham matched Everton’s bid and everybody did a big U-turn so that the former Toulouse star could pass his express medical to sign for Daniel Levy’s club.
As L’Equipe put it, it really was The Longest Day for Sissoko, but the outcome was a positive one for everyone. Except Everton.
