Back-to-back Hong Kong Premier League champions Kitchee have confirmed the signing of former Liverpool midfielder Mohamed “Momo” Sissoko for next season.
The club have said that the France-born former Mali international will be an “important player in the midfield” as the club look to return to the AFC Champions League for a second season.
Full details of the transfer will be announced at a press conference in Hong Kong on July 12.
It won’t be his first time in the city. He played in the Barclays Asia Trophy for Liverpool in 2007, losing to Portsmouth in the final at Hong Kong Stadium.
Sissoko, 33, will be the club’s marquee signing, replacing the void left by former Uruguay international Diego Forlan who left the club at the end of last season.
The midfielder has a similarly illustrious CV, having played at some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
His career began at Auxerre before he moved to Valencia in 2003. He spent two years under Rafael Benitez and Claudio Ranieri, winning La Liga and the Uefa Cup, before reuniting with Benitez at Liverpool in 2005.
The midfielder became a cult figure at Anfield, as much off the pitch as on, winning the FA Cup in 2006.
The LiverpoolEcho reported that Sissoko claimed to have won the Uefa Champions League with Liverpool, even though he signed two months after their 2005 triumph. He also told Valencia he was off to play an international friendly for Mali when he was actually visiting his ill father. On returning to the Spanish club he told a journalist that Mali had won the non-existent game and he had scored the decisive goal.
Pune City of the Indian Super League came next, then a month at Italian second-tier side Ternana, and six months or so in Indonesia with Mitra Kukar.
Most recently Sissoko was at Mexican second division side Atletico San Luis before signing for Kitchee.
Sissoko is not the only change to the Kitchee line-up ahead of the new season in August.
Hong Kong international Alex Akande has signed for China League One side Yanbian Funde, with the Nigeria-born striker looking to fill the role played by Bubacarr “Steve” Trawally until he moved to Guizhou Hengfeng when Yanbian were relegated from the CSL.
Meanwhile, the future of last year’s Player of the Year Kristian Vadocz remains uncertain with speculation that the midfielder will leave the champions, while they are also looking for a new foreign striker.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Sissoko becomes marquee signing for kitchee club