Moussa Sissoko being linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona has brought the player a lot of ridicule. A very difficult first season at Tottenham Hotspur, including public dissatisfaction from manager Mauricio Pochettino, isn’t usually the route to El Clasico.
But then Don Balon don’t play by the rules. The Spanish outlet was once a respectable magazine and then died, only to be reborn again in recent years as perhaps the most ridiculous transfer rumour outlet on the planet.
In November 2015, we covered a couple of Don Balon’s most ridiculous claims at the time: ‘At the weekend Don Balon said Manchester United wanted to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic from PSG. It was claimed the club were willing to pay €80m for the Swedish international, but PSG were asking for €100m.’
Ibrahimovic was 34 years of age. Ibrahimovic had a contract with PSG which ended the following June, Manchester United signed him on a free.
Real Madrid were also said to want Memphis Depay. Don Balon claimed that Madrid’s first offer for Depay would be €65m, but that Manchester United would ask for something around €90m.
To be honest, it may be art. Some Spanish reflection on the thirst for transfer rumours and how fabricating claims is really a true expression of one’s desire to please.
Given all of that, ridiculing Sissoko over his links to Barcelona and Real Madrid may be unfair. The Tottenham midfielder probably hasn’t been offering himself to Spain’s finest, and Pochettino will either have to find a way of making the Frenchman and Spurs compatible, or find a more realistic solution.
