No Mo' Momo

The moment Liverpool fans have been waiting for all season has finally come - Sissoko has been sold!

The Soccernet story has him going to Juventus for ₤8.2 million. This is not as high as the rumors speculated - I had heard as much as €15 million - but I think the club and the fans are happy to recoup so much for such an unproductive player. This also brings us one step closer to locking down Monster.

I think this will be a critical moment in the careers of several people involved in the transfer:

• Rafa Benitez, who will finally be able to sustain his central midfield rotation and have attacking merit across the board - even Mascherano is a good passer. Also, since this transfer effectively kills the "Alonso, Sissoko, Gerrard and Mascherano" chant, fans will have more time to sing their songs glorifying The Rafalution.
  
• Lucas Leiva, who will start to show the Kop why he is so important to the Brazil national side. He is the smartest player on the squad not named Carragher. Expect more of this. (start at 15" in). Also, don't be surprised if he surpasses Xabi Alonso in the rotation, or convinces Rafa to switch to a 4-3-3 so he can take advantage of his glut of quality central midfielders.
  
• Alessio Secco, who is quickly proving to be one of the worst judges of talent in Europe. Secco has already spent big on flops Tiago, Sergio Almiron, et al. The Old Lady faithful are smart, they know what to expect from Sissoko, and as such they have been opposing this transfer from the get-go. I think this move is the beginning of the end for Secco. I get the sense that the Juve fans already hate Secco, and the owners will start hating him once they realize how much money he has spent on mediocrity. Blue would know the odds better than I, but I'd give 5:2 odds for him to be gone within the year. Juventus, after all, is not known for management stability in the last 10 years...
  
• And finally, Momo Sissoko himself. This is a player who Arrigo Sacchi referred to as a "plughole" - this should be his nickname, by the way - but I would refer to his style of play as Entropy. Both squads tend to devolve into ugly chaos whenever he is on the pitch. He got a pass from Liverpool fans (perhaps rightly so) because of his severe injuries, but this year I think it became all too clear that he wasn't going to be any more than a mauler. His style of play would fit better with the kind of smaller squad that gets its points playing cynically for draws - Middlesboro, Allardyce's Bolton, etc -Not an international powerhouse like Juve. He'd probably be more valuable to them as an ultra than as a footballer.
  
  That said, I do wish Momo the best. As much as I like to bash his playing style, he works incredibly hard and never seems to get tired. For his sake, I hope that endears him to the fans in Turin.