Whenever Moussa Sissoko is interviewed by the French press he is always asked if he would like to move to a bigger club than Newcastle and that gives the 26 year-old the chance of saying he wants to play Champions League football at some point in his career.

Moussa Sissoko in training at Newcastle

There’s probably no way he can do that at Newcastle, especially when there’s a chance that England may have their allocation to the Champions League cut to three clubs because of poor results in the competition over the last three seasons.

Moussa Sissoko has not been in his best form for Newcastle so far this season and Steve McClaren has addressed that today:

“He’s obviously very ambitious and that’s great but like everybody else who is ambitious, I’m sorry but you have to perform every week to a certain standard and he knows that.” 

“I’ve had lots of chats with him and he seems to be committed. But in terms of performance, I’m sure he admits himself he could do better.”

“His work for the team, his stats and his running, all that high intensity, is more than he was doing last season. So he’s certainly doing his job and putting the effort in.”

Moussa has again been called up for the French squad over the International break and manager Didier Deschamps is said to admire the midfielder and he has always been in his French squads.

Maybe Moussa should cut out talking about Champions League football until he plays at that standard for Newcastle.

That would seem to be a win-win for both Newcastle and Moussa Sissoko – at least in the short term.

What do you think?

Comments welcome.