Goodbye Zoko

134 appearances.
No goals.
Locomotive runs from midfield.
Plenty of dancing.
Plenty of smiles.
Great engine.
No brain.
Comolli classic.

Goodbye and good luck to Didier Zokora.

He was meant to be some form of Carrick replacement. A defensive midfielder to fill the void. Comolli positively beamed when we signed him. He looked the part. Athletic, strong. But tragically Zoko's first touch and lack of depth to his passing quickly let to the conclusion that he was £8M better spent on someone else (which we did anyway with Kaboul).

In two games Palacios showed us what we had hoped to get from the Ivorian. Composure. Intent. Intelligence.

But he wasn't all bad. He did give us much in the way of effort. And he was superb when covering as a right-back, proving the lack of footballing brain he possessed as he was able to perform the job admirably there. Mainly because the job as a right-back is more straight forward then it is in centre-midfield.

He never scored. He never came close. Well maybe once. And there was that run and shot against Chelsea in the Carling Cup final that had everyone screaming/jumping/crying when it ballooned into the sky. But all was well in the end, as he jigged along to the music along with thousands of Spurs fans. He knew how to lap it up.

£8.65M apparently the fee. Not too shabby business that. Although we might have forked out a bit to them for the Ramos compensation. But at least the window has began for us.

One out. Bent next?

As for our departing friend. Average footballer. Great guy. I bet he scores on his debut for Sevilla.

Have a good one out in La Liga Zoko. You mad bastard.