Valencia, and specifically the club’s owner Peter Lim, wouldn’t take no for an answer over Andreas Pereira.
Lim made it his mission to sign Pereira on loan from Manchester United, and despite the player not knowing anything about it for a while, even when reported in Spain as a done deal, and despite Jose Mourinho initially being against the move, Valencia pulled it off at the last minute.
The difficulty getting Pereira led Valencia to consider other options, including Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko. The same well placed Valencia sources who were linking Pereira, also linked Sissoko before the window closed.
Super Deporte says signing Sissoko from Tottenham, almost certainly on loan, was ‘contemplated’ by Valencia, but then negotiations kicked off again for Pereira.
Sissoko has been linked with multiple exits from Tottenham over the past few months, with interest from Turkey seeming the most serious. Assuming Sissoko doesn’t move somewhere a window remains open, Mauricio Pochettino has an interesting situation.
Pochettino has a player who had repeatedly hinted about an exit, who was a huge disappointment in his first season, and who will be itching to get on the pitch because of the World Cup.
Perhaps France chances could play into Pochettino’s hands at Tottenham, with Sissoko given extra motivation to put his best in at all times, with Didier Deschamps now clearly not just going to pick the player out of habit.
