Carver: Sissoko not leaving Newcastle

Sissoko talked at length about his future in an interview with a French website this week.

The midfielder, linked with Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, suggested that he was ready to leave Newcastle and join a Champion League club after two years at St James’s Park.

Sissoko has been United’s best player so far this season – and fans, mindful that Yohan Cabaye was told to PSG a year ago for £20m, fear he will be sold before Monday night’s transfer deadline.

But head coach John Carver is confident that Sissoko will end the campaign with Newcastle.

Asked if the 25-year-old’s head had been turned, Carver said: “Not really, not from what I’m seeing with his performances.

“Unless somebody came in with an exceptional offer, and it has to be something exceptional, he’ll be playing for this football club. Don’t worry about that.

“This is how I deal with it – if you see the way he trains and the way he is playing, I am telling you now he is going nowhere.

“Unless we somebody comes in with a ridiculous amount of money, he is going nowhere.

“He is focused and he has got his mind on the job. He has been absolutely first class.

“It annoys me when you see a player who has been tapped up by somebody else, and he doesn’t train properly or perform properly.

“That’s what annoys me, and he is certainly not doing that.

“I have experienced that, I am not going to mention players, but I have seen with an awful lot of players that once they have been tapped up to go somewhere, they down tools, and it is so obvious.”

Sissoko joined Newcastle in a cut-price deal from Toulouse two years ago.

Asked by Foot Mercato if he saw himself leaving United this month, he said: “It doesn’t just depend on me.

“I am under contract with Newcastle. If a club wants me, they need to discuss with my agent and my club.

“My aim is to play for the biggest clubs.”