Ibrahim Cissoko: What to Expect?
Adam Price takes a look at Ibrahim Cissoko, as the Dutch winger joins Argyle on a season-long loan from Ligue 1 side Toulouse.
Image from L'Opinion Indépendante
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I need to start by apologising for the delay of this piece. Like many of the Argyle Life crew, I too have spent the last week abroad, though not in the same location. Instead I found myself in Germany, following the fortunes of the England football team, and I once again forgot to pack football for the trip home.
The trip wasn’t a total disaster. The semi-finals of Euro 2024 were particularly entertaining, and there was also plenty to follow back home. As I enjoyed a grossly overpriced beer in Munich, news broke of Plymouth Argyle making their fourth signing of the summer. Contrary to the others, this one wasn’t predicted at all beforehand. Ibrahim Cissoko joined the Greens on a season-long loan from French top-flight side Toulouse.
At the time of writing, we’ve gained just a brief glimpse of Cissoko in action. He appeared against Orlando Pirates in Marbella during Argyle’s first friendly of the summer, and almost immediately set up Callum Wright’s equalising goal. Admittedly, he did go a little quiet after that, and he will hope to offer plenty more across the season. What exactly could he offer? Let’s delve into his numbers.
Thrilling runner
When Cissoko’s arrival was announced, it swiftly became apparent that this had all the hallmarks of an exciting signing. The video compilations, and various clips across social media, were enough to quickly whet the appetite. I’m pleased to say a cursory look at his stats backs up that view.
Across the last two seasons, first with NEC Nijmegen in the Dutch Eredivisie and then Toulouse, Cissoko has made 43 appearances in all competitions. That equates to 1,468 minutes of football. We’ll use that as the basis of the statistical analysis throughout the piece.
There is an obvious standout in his dribbling. That might not come as a surprise, given many of the compilations we’ve all watched since his unveiling demonstrated his eagerness to run with the ball. It shows – Cissoko attempted 5.82 dribbles per 90 minutes across the last two seasons, and completed 3.06 dribbles per 90. Both are higher figures than any Argyle player managed last term, and by a significant margin.
Cissoko has completed his dribbles at a success rate of 53%. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s comfortably above the 48% average Argyle as a whole posted last season. It also compares favourably to players we know liked to run with the ball last season, such as Morgan Whittaker (37%) and Mickel Miller (48%). Bali Mumba, arguably the best dribbler in Argyle’s ranks, only narrowly topped Cissoko with a 58% success rate.
Naturally, Cissoko’s dribbling puts defences under pressure. If they can’t stop him with a tackle, they may well be forced into a foul. Across the last two seasons, Cissoko won an average of 2.39 fouls per 90, with the average Argyle player winning 0.94. It means the Greens should get more opportunities from set-pieces this season as a direct result of Cissoko’s running. That can include penalties; he won this one for NEC in a 3-1 victory over FC Emmen.
Cissoko will get everyone on the edge of their seats, and it’s no surprise that his arrival has been greeted with such excitement. How often have you heard someone near you at Home Park bellow “TAKE HIM ON” whenever an Argyle winger receives the ball? Cissoko is never going to need a second invitation.
A raw talent
Admittedly, we’ve seen this sort of player before, not just at Argyle but across the world of football. Players who can beat a man, and thrill with the ball at their feet, but without the end product to make the most of their undoubted talents. Does Cissoko have that end product to put his dribbling to good use?
The brutally honest answer at the moment: no. Or at least, not yet. Across the two seasons we’re looking at, his numbers don’t give the necessary confidence that he is ready to make a telling influence.
Goal contributions are an obvious place to start. Across the relevant time period, Cissoko scored three goals and notched one assist. Three goals isn’t necessarily awful – only three Argyle players managed more than that in the league last term, though Cissoko is joint-fourth with many others. But one assist for a winger is objectively poor.
To put the numbers into perspective, Cissoko’s four goal contributions translate to 0.25 per 90. Last season that figure was beaten by Mustapha Bundu and Ben Waine, two of Argyle’s other attacking options, who posted 0.37 and 0.28 respectively in the league. Perhaps worryingly, Cissoko’s figure was also lower than some of Argyle’s more defensive options such as Matthew Sorinola (0.34) and Adam Forshaw (0.27).
I’d argue this is the area that will make or break Cissoko’s Argyle spell. Crucially, just because he hasn’t demonstrated a good end product across his career thus far, it doesn’t mean he never will. There are, as ever, a few caveats we can point towards, and they suggest the situation may not be quite as bad as it appears.
For example, Cissoko’s raw assists figure is clearly inadequate. Consider this though: across the relevant time period, he created 0.18 big chances per 90. That’s not astronomical, but it’s far from disastrous, and is comfortably higher than all of the comparable names above. Of course, to get an assist, you need somebody else to deliver with the goal, and it’s certainly arguable that Cissoko has been let down by his teammates to some extent.
We then must consider the sample size. Yes, Cissoko has made 43 appearances across his last two seasons, but only 15 of those were starts. Indeed, he was used a whopping 28 times as a substitute. His total of 1,468 minutes may not be insignificant, but it’s far from a decisive sample. The perennially injured Miller and Brendan Galloway both played more minutes last season than Cissoko in the last two.
That sample is also somewhat skewed, and may not present the best picture of the player Cissoko is today. We’ve been comparing his figures to Argyle’s squad of last season, but many of Cissoko’s appearances came for NEC when he was 19. As someone who is now 21, and will be 22 before his spell at Home Park ends, you’d naturally expect him to have developed as a player in that time period.
How relevant you consider those caveats probably depends on your natural level of optimism. In many ways, Cissoko finds himself in a similar boat to Muhamed Tijani, who has all the ingredients to be a terrific footballer but has been a deficient finisher. Whether both reach their potential remains to be seen; spending time working with one of the best attackers this country has ever produced can only help.
As his dribbling stats show, Cissoko is an exciting talent. But he’s also a raw talent. Harnessing that ability into a positive impact will be crucial.
Keeping good company
True to form, I’ve thrown all sorts of numbers your way. They demonstrate that signing Cissoko is an obvious risk, but I can completely understand why Argyle feel it’s one worth taking. There’s more than enough in the data to suggest he could be a terrific pickup, should everything come together.
Don’t just take my word for it though. Argyle may have made their move this summer, but 12 months ago another club were doing just the same. And Toulouse did more than just “make a move” for Cissoko – they saw fit to pay NEC €3 million for his services, or just over £2.5 million.
Let me be clear: Toulouse seeing enough to pay such a fee for Cissoko is an incredibly good sign. They are a club well known, mainly in France of course but also across Europe, for being an intelligent, data driven outfit. And it’s worked. Scouring the market for intelligent signings helped them win promotion from Ligue 2, and pushed them towards winning the French Cup for the first time in their history in 2023. In many ways, it’s a model Argyle are looking to replicate.
An article by Adam White, published in the Guardian, goes into more detail. I won’t summarise the entire article here, but I will point you towards a quote from Toulouse president Damien Comolli which caught my eye.
“We are a club that makes all its decisions with the help of data and statistics. Whether it’s in recruitment or our style of play, we analyse our opponents, our team, our players on an individual level. We analyse how we should approach a season.”
Being data driven is hardly a novel concept, but Toulouse are some of the market leaders at the practice. As a professional club, they’ll also have far more access to data than I do (which admittedly shouldn’t be hard). The fact they made the move for Cissoko, and the fact Argyle have now done the same, demonstrates there must be even more in his underlying numbers to convince them into a deal. That’s undeniably promising.
I’d also like to touch on Toulouse’s announcement of Cissoko’s loan to Argyle. Having made just 15 appearances in France last season, amounting to just 476 minutes, some may argue his move to Toulouse have failed. The club’s hierarchy appear to disagree.
Differentiating this deal from the one that saw Tijani arrive at Home Park, Toulouse were very clear that Cissoko joined “sans option d'achat,” which Google Translate reliably informs me means “without the option to purchase.” There is also a reference to how a spell in England will give Cissoko the opportunity to improve before returning to the club.
That’s significant. Of course, it’d be better for Argyle to have the option to buy the player if he hits the ground running quickly. Think about what this means though – Toulouse, an exceptionally well-run club in one of Europe’s top five leagues, clearly see a future for Cissoko at their club. That’s a notable vote of confidence.
Clearly there are plenty of bright minds in world football who believe Cissoko is supremely talented. You can see why. There can be no doubt that he has bags of potential. At Argyle, it’s time to deliver on that promise.