Former Mali international Momo Sissoko has opened up to a secret he has not publicly spoken about since parting ways with Juventus back in 2011.
The 35-year-old midfielder hanged his boots early last year after representing 15 clubs during his career, with his last club being French outfit Sochaux.
Sissoko had spells at Juventus, Auxerre, Liverpool, Valencia, Paris Saint-Germain, Levante and Fiorentina.
But it’s his time at Juventus from 2008 to 2011 that he remembers most fondly though his stay was less fruitful having fallen out with the coach Claudio Ranieri.
“Yes, I have always dreamed of playing at Juventus. When I was young I liked Alessandro Del Piero and Zinedine Zidane so much. In France, all young people like me were fans of Zizou,” he told Il Posticipo, as quoted by juvefc.com.
“When the opportunity to play for Juve came, I immediately said yes. I am happy to have done it, I am proud to have played with great players like Pavel Nedved, Mauro Camoranesi, David Trezeguet, Fabio Cannavaro, Fabio Grosso and Vincenzo Iaquinta.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “I recently stopped playing, but if I look back and think back on what I did, I tell myself that it was really fantastic. I had a beautiful career, today I’m happy. [/perfectpullquote]
“I have regrets. I regret having left. At Juve I was very well, I was becoming a very important player. With [then manager Luigi] Delneri, however, I played very little, so I chose to leave. If I could go back I would never leave Juve to go to the PSG. This is the truth.”
Sissoko joined Juventus after a spell with English Premier League giants Liverpool for a transfer fee amounting to £8.2m.
He left the club for French side Paris Saint-Germain when he was just 26 years old after falling out with the club’s technical bench that was led by Claudio Ranieri.
Born in France, Sissoko committed his international future to his country of origin Mali and made his debut for the Eagles in 2004.
He made 34 appearances for Mali scoring two goals, and he helped the Eagles to a third-place finish at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
In all, he played at four Africa Cup of Nations finals – 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2013.
