Quietly Momo

As the pre-season draws to a close, and with little over a week to go until the start of the new season, I wanted to bring attention to the much unheralded arrival of Momo Sissoko. While most of the Liverpool transfer news headlines have been dominated by the arrival of striker Peter Crouch, the most astute piece of transfer business Rafa has done in this pre-season could very well be the signing of Sissoko from Valencia. Sissoko has the potential to play a big part for Liverpool in the future, under Benitez.

Here's 10 things you probably didn't know about Momo Sissoko:

1. He's only 20 years old.
2. He was born in France but chose instead to play for the country of his parents, Mali.
3. He's already a regular for Mali (along with fellow Red, Djimi Traore) and he played in the Athens 2004 Olympics, losing in the quarterfinals to Italy.
4. He snubbed advances from Everton and Chelsea to join Liverpool.
5. Rafa Benitez has compared the tough tackler to being the next Patrick Vieira.
6. He was voted the fans' star man in the Champions League qualifier against FBK Kaunas last week.
7. Rafa brought Sissoko to Valencia from Auxerre, when he was manager at the Spanish club, and has been tracking him ever since.
8. Liverpool paid £5.5million for Sissoko.
9. He plays in a defensive midfield or wide right position and is likely to be Dietmar Hamann's successor at Liverpool.
10. He has won La Liga and UEFA Cup medals with Benitez and Valencia, prior to joining Liverpool.