20     Midfielder     Midtjylland     Denmark

Skinny

Pione Sisto is another player on this list that unfortunately had a better year in 2014 than 2015.

This time last year Pione Sisto was celebrating being named the Danish Player of the Year after an impressive 12 months for Midtjylland, and preparing himself to represent his adopted Denmark for the first time in the under-21 team. It looked like an upward curve that could only end with championship victory and a spot in Morten Olsen’s senior squad.

Both of those things happened; but not with the gusto we expected.  Midtjylland went on to win the Danish league title and Sisto did eventually get his first senior cap but as smoothly as it may have been.

Pione was born in Uganda to South Sudanese parentage but has lived in Denmark since he was very, very young. As such his eventual decision to declare for the country he grew up in makes total sense to us. He received dispensation from FIFA to make his debut for Denmark and was able to do so in September.

2015 has been…

It was just rewards for an excellent 18 months even if three of those have been spent battling injury. After starting last season with seven goals in 17 league games, Sisto was denied having the impact in the title run thanks to a groin strain.

Outside of that time on the sidelines there is lot for Danish football to be excited when viewing Sisto. He is being heralded as the best Danish player since Christian Eriksen; not that 23 year-old Eriksen is exactly a player to be simply remembered. When the duo start to build up a rhythm together for the national team along with Ajax’s Viktor Fischer, the Danes could be one of those really fun international teams to watch.

Sisto himself is lots of fun. He has lovely close control, always looks full of tricks to bamboozle defenders and his direct focus of trying to get into the penalty area makes him a danger. He looks comfortable playing all across the pitch and is even happy to do his fair share of running ahead of the ball.

Pione has a good eye for a pass into the gap and is constantly turning his head to be aware of the players around him. His greatest strength may just be his calm head in the tightest of positions.

What’s next?

Do what you did last season.

Sisto and Midtjylland haven’t had the start this season that they did in 2014/15 so the focus has to be solely on getting back to that level. There is no potential for Pione to go to the European Championships so he can give everything towards winning retaining the league title.

Individually that means mixing up his game to keep the opposition guessing and proving there is depth to his game.

B     Won’t be in Denmark for much longer