Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 6y

Moussa Sissoko: Mauricio Pochettino convinced me to stay at Tottenham

Moussa Sissoko has told FootMercato that he considered leaving Tottenham but says Mauricio Pochettino convinced him to stay at the club during a conversation on the postseason trip to Hong Kong.

Spurs manager Pochettino revealed last week that Sissoko had considered leaving the club ahead of next summer's World Cup after the France international made just eight Premier League starts last season following a £30 million move from Newcastle United.

This season has been completely different for Sissoko, who has featured in every match and scored his first goal for the club on his 44th appearance at the weekend.

The midfielder is sure he has made the right decision in staying put and says his mind was made up after a conversation with the manager in late May.

"We thought about it [leaving] at the end of last season with my agent, and we decided that the best thing was to stay here with a year to go to the World Cup," Sissoko, who is back in the France squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Belarus, said.

"Even if I didn't play too much last season, I'm not the first nor the last player to have a difficult first season at a new club. And we thought everything was in place for me to flourish at Tottenham. Today, I tell myself, of course, that it was the right choice.

"My relationship with him [Pochettino] is the simple one between coach and player. He talks to me to explain things on the pitch, to explain how to play. Sometimes, there are discussions about things outside of football. We have quite a simple interaction, like with most of the players.

"The small discussion took place at the end of last season during a tournament in Hong Kong. I wanted to know more about my future and about how things would go in the new season. We had a talk, everything was clear for me and for him. After that, we made the choice to stay at Tottenham."

Sissoko finally opened his Tottenham account in Saturday's 4-0 win at Huddersfield in the Premier League, scoring the fourth goal from close range in stoppage time.

"I felt relief, a release. It was a moment of enormous joy, because I'd been waiting for that goal for a while," he said. "It's also linked to a difficult last season. But I never give up. People often say that you learn most in difficult periods. Those difficult times allowed me to ask myself the right questions, think about it, work even more and bounce back. Today, things have turned around.

"You're always proud when you manage to contradict the negative things that have been said about you. It's good, but that's not going to change me. I know why I'm there, what I want to do and where I want to go. I'm focussed on my objectives and that's how I move forward."

France manager Didider Deschamps said: "He has got back to playing again, that's good. He's playing regularly and playing well. He's in a very different situation to a month ago. He has experience. He had a very good Euro [2016]. He doesn't have a well-defined position. He's a good soldier, as they say. I know he's going to stand up and be counted every time. I'm not going to ask things of him that he's not able to do. There's no problem, he's here."

ESPN FC's France correspondent Ian Holyman contributed to this report.

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