Carragher names two Liverpool signings that ‘looked really poor’

Joe Williams
Jamie Carragher Chelsea

Jamie Carragher says that Momo Sissoko and Didi Hamann “looked really poor” when they first signed for Liverpool before becoming important players.

Sissoko joined Liverpool from Valencia for £5.6m in 2005, spending three years at the club and making 87 appearances in all competitions.

While Hamann spent a successful seven years at Anfield, winning the Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Charity Shield, two League Cups and two FA Cups.

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However, when quizzed about players that adapted and improved after taking a while to settle in, Carragher told Sky Sports: “More often than not at Liverpool the top players settled really quickly, but I can think of a couple. I think Momo Sissoko was one.

“He ended up being a really good player for us in midfield. A destructive type of player, not great technically.

“But in his first few training sessions he looked really poor with the ball.

“People always wonder what it’s like when new signings come in, and pro footballers at the top clubs, or at any level, we’re all the same as when you’re with your mates at five a side.

 

“If someone comes in new, and the first few passes they give it away or they’re struggling with the ball, you’re all looking at each other thinking ‘oh what have we done? What have we got here?’

“I think that was definitely the case with Momo Sissoko.”

Carragher added: “I think Didi Hamann was one as well.

“It’s not that the looked a poor player, but what he did at Liverpool… his first season it did take him a bit of time to show why we’d spent that money on him and what job he was going to do in the team.

“Then obviously he became a revelation and was part of that successful era of Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez.

“But in the first season you were sort of looking at it and thinking that you needed a little bit more, and that’s what Didi provided.

“But I’d say Sissoko was the big one where you think, within six months you think ‘wow. he looks a good powerful Premier League player.”

 

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