• Name: Pione Sisto
  • Age: 18 (04.02.1995)
  • Position Left and Right Wing
  • Club: FC Midtjylland
  • International Caps: None
  • Value: £275.000

He might only be 18-year-old and already a more or less established player in FC Midtjylland, but this talent keeps both his feet on the ground. This week we keep an eye on Pione Sisto.

This guy is not one of the typical Danish talents you have read about earlier on this blog; no, this guy has a history behind him, coming to Denmark along with his parents only two months old, escaping the war in Sudan. After a living seven years in the Danish town Skive, the family moved to Herning where Sisto started playing football for Tjørring.

"We managed to get to Denmark, where there was no war. We then moved to Skive for the first seven years, and then moved to Herning. As far as I know my family is happy to be in Denmark where there is a great system and things are just better," Sisto says and thinks back on his time in the small club Tjørring IF:
"Generally, I was happy in Tjørring, and I knew almost everybody, both the players and their parents and I lived closed to the club. I was always happy at the club and loved to play football, so I remember it as a fantastic period."
When he was 13-years-old FC Midtjylland, became Pione Sisto's new club when the talent decided that it was time to take a step towards a more professional career, and joined the academy. However, the winger has not always been sure that football should be his career move. In fact, he played several sports before deciding on football. When the talent joined FC Midtjylland, he learned the life as a professional youth player through the hard training - harder than he had been used to in Tjørring.
"You learn how it is to be in professional football in Denmark, and the way they [FC Midtjylland Academy] work with the players already from U15, helps the players to develop, and it also this that have helped me make my breakthrough in the senior squad," Sisto says.
And the hard training paid off with more than a place in the Superliga squad, when Sisto was announced as the Academy player of the 2012/13 season.
"I was extremely happy to receive the prize, and I am not trying to cover that it was a target for me, even though I did not tell many about my plan. It tells where you stand among the other talents at the academy, and obviously I want to be one of the best, and by winning the trophy it shows that I have worked hard to become one of the best," the award winning talent says.
Despite his young age, Pione Sisto has got a few starters earlier in this season, and after scoring a goal against AGF Aarhus in the first league match, he was suddenly on everyone's lips. However, his manager, Glen Riddersholm, is not afraid that his talent will lose his firm grip on the ground.
"Because of injuries earlier in the season, we couldn’t give him the breaks that are natural for a young player. We can do that now. It is no problem for him as he knows he shouldn’t say yes to everything so there will be created a hype about him," Riddersholm says and describes his player:
"He is a specialist in the way we like to develop our wings with some quick feet with the ball, good acceleration and good dribbling skills, as well. He is a player that we believe has a high potential, and a crowd favourite because they never know what will happen when he is on the ball.
"There is no doubt that he is a player that other clubs are keeping an eye on, and when he has developed, I am sure he will appeal to many leagues," Riddersholm says.
The talent welcomes the kind word from his manager, and acknowledges that Riddersholm has a great share in his current success. A success that is felt on the entire team, currently 1st in the Danish Superliga. Pione Sisto is sure that he and his teammates can bring metal to Herning this year:
"I think we have a chance of winning it as we have a good team player by player, and we have proven both for the manager and for the club as well as everyone else that this squad can go far.
"But the season is long, and the competition is hard, so we just keep looking at ourselves and keep developing," Sisto says.
One target for the talent is the Championship, but another and perhaps more important is to get a Danish passport. He has already passed the test and is only waiting for the passport and then, hopefully, a spot on the Danish national team. A big target for a young player, but not impossible if your name is Pione Sisto, the African-soon-to-be-Danish starlet.