Jamie Redknapp has hailed the impact Tottenham midfielder Moussa Sissoko has had on the team since being moved into the centre of midfield.
Sissoko has been vital for Spurs in that area of the pitch and has put in countless solid performances, including one in the Champions League final second-leg against Ajax in Amsterdam.
Writing in a column for the Daily Mail, Redknapp revealed that he did not expect the 29-year-old to have this much of an impact on his teammates this term.
“I was not alone in thinking that Sissoko would be heading for the exit door last summer,” the pundit said. “Instead, injuries to Harry Winks and the sale of Mousa Dembele forced Mauricio Pochettino to move Sissoko into the middle.
“It proved a masterstroke — and only underlines just how much Pochettino improves players.”
OPINION
Despite scoring only one goal and laying on four others for his teammates in 43 appearances this season, Sissoko – as Redknapp describes him – has become Tottenham’s “midfield powerhouse”. In the face of injuries to Winks – a young rising star who had been a regular for Spurs last season – and the departure of Mousa Dembele to China in January, the French international was asked to fill in in a position with which he wasn’t too comfortable. But he has done a stellar job. Spurs may only have finished fourth in the Premier League, but in the Champions League Sissoko has been magnificent and is one of the reasons the North London club have made it all the way to the final. It will be interesting to see how Sissoko and Winks work together for Spurs next season – if they are played together by Mauricio Pochettino that is. Either way, Pochettino has found a midfield powerhouse he never knew he had.