Dejphon Chansiri’s stint at Sheffield Wednesday was littered with poor signings, and winger Ibrahim Cissoko will undoubtedly rank among them.
Chansiri’s difficult decade-long stint at Hillsborough ended in October, when he placed the club and corporation through which he controlled the stadium into administration after months of financial upheaval, and his departure was met with cheers by many Wednesday fans.
In Chansiri’s defense, he did provide funds for a number of successful signings early in his tenure as owner, including Fernando Forestieri and Gary Hooper, as the Owls came dangerously close to promotion to the Premier League, but it would be an understatement to say his overall transfer market record was mixed.
Many Wednesday fans consider Almen Abdi and Jordan Rhodes to be not only two of the worst signings of the Chansiri period, but probably in the club’s history, given their exorbitant prices, and such signings contributed greatly to future financial woes.
While he will not be considered as big of a flop as Abdi or Rhodes, Cissoko is another signing that the Owls fans will want to forget, having endured a dreadful loan spell in S6 during the second half of last season.
Sheffield Wednesday’s acquisition of Ibrahim Cissoko appeared to be a coup following his tenure at Plymouth Argyle.
It may seem like a lifetime ago considering everything the club has been through in recent months, but Wednesday were solidly in play-off contention when the January transfer window opened last season following a good first half of the season under previous manager Danny Rohl.
However, Rohl became embroiled in a very public feud with Chansiri in January after being denied a move to Southampton the previous month, and the two did not settle their differences until late in the window, leaving the Owls scrambling for last-minute acquisitions.
Wednesday appeared to have salvaged part of their summer window by signing former Southampton midfielder Stuart Armstrong on a free transfer and bringing in winger Cissoko on loan from French club Toulouse.
Cissoko had spent the first half of the season on loan at fellow Championship club Plymouth Argyle, where he scored three goals and assisted twice in 15 games.
Cissoko’s best moment with the Pilgrims came when he scored twice in a spectacular 3-1 home win over Luton Town, and he was unquestionably one of the major bright lights throughout Wayne Rooney’s disastrous term in command of the Devon club.
However, after being sent off in a 5-0 loss to Cardiff City in October, Cissoko missed nearly two months with a groin injury, and he only made a few more substitute appearances under new manager Miron Muslic before his loan was revoked, allowing him to join Wednesday.
Danny Rohl failed to duplicate the Wayne Rooney trick with Ibrahim Cissoko at Sheffield Wednesday.
While Cissoko’s dip in form should have been a red flag in retrospect, he had enough potential during his time at Plymouth to suggest that he may be a valuable asset to Wednesday’s pursuit of a play-off spot.
Despite Rooney’s managerial limitations, he was able to get the best out of Cissoko while at Home Park, but many expected the 22-year-old to improve much more at Hillsborough under Rohl, who is largely considered as a far superior coach to the former England international.
However, Rohl was unable to motivate Cissoko to the same level of performance as Rooney did, with the winger failing to make an impact during a miserable tenure with the Owls.
Cissoko made only five substitute appearances for Wednesday, totaling 51 minutes on the pitch, and was left out of the matchday squad for eight of the season’s last nine games.
Rohl, like Owls fans, was clearly unimpressed with Cissoko’s brief cameos off the bench, and given that his side’s play-off push collapsed during a poor second half of the season, it was telling that he did not give the Dutchman more of an opportunity, despite many of his other attackers’ lack of form.
Cissoko returned to English football this summer, joining League One side Bolton Wanderers on loan, and while he has yet to find his form with the Trotters, he raised eyebrows with a recent interview in which he described himself as “an exciting winger” and claimed that “players like me you come to the stadium for”.
There is no doubt that Cissoko can be a bother for opposing defences on his day, but Wednesday fans saw little of that during his time in South Yorkshire, and he will be remembered as one of the worst signings of the Chansiri era.
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