Sessègnon: 'Life is made of bad choices, I could have signed for a better club than Sunderland'

It's over six years since Stéphane Sessègnon signed for Sunderland from Paris Saint Germain. In an acrimonious departure from France, the Benin playmaker swapped the Parc des Princes for the Stadium of Light, but now says he regrets the manner of his exit and that he should have signed for a 'better club'.

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Sessègnon returned to PSG for the first time since his 2011 departure at the weekend with current side Montpellier.

The visitors lost by two-goals-to-nil but the player now aged 32 is having a good season in Ligue 1. Sessègnon has made 23 appearances since he signed for the side currently 13th in France's top tier and has a couple of goals and assists to his name.

But speaking ahead of Saturday's fixture in an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, Sessègnon recounted how he forced a move to England with Steve Bruce's Sunderland after a falling out with his manager at PSG:

I had a big problem with the coach at the time Antoine Kombouare who had insulted me. I asked for an appointment with president Leproux to tell him about my desire to go to England.

And from there a game of internal politics delayed the player's arrival in the Premier League:

He kept me waiting several weeks and when I sat opposite him, he said "you have fifteen minutes, no more". It was contemptuous as he did not want me. Listening for longer I got pissed and decided not to get out of his office.

After several hours it was Alain Roche [member of the PSG coaching staff] who convinced me to leave. Today I regret this method, but only the method.

But the player who was 26-years-old when he signed for Sunderland in a £6m deal, believes he could have signed for a bigger club had he avoided the confrontation:

I think I was badly advised. If I had waited a few months I could have signed for a better club than Sunderland. But I wanted to play in England. Life is made of bad choices.

Sessègnon would go on to make over 90 appearances for the Black Cats in a spell spanning two-and-a-half-years. Playing under three different managers he scored eighteen goals before another falling out with a coach, this time with then-Sunderland boss Paulo Di Canio.

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At times deemed 'inconsistent', the 5ft 6in player was one of the more talented footballers to have appeared at the Stadium of Light in recent years. A selection of highlights included some virtuoso performances and a smattering of stunning goals before time was called on his Wearside career by a brush with the law and falling foul of disciplinarian Di Canio.

Sessègnon was arrested for drink driving whilst his teammates were playing a Capital One Cup game against MK Dons in August 2013. The axe from the first team followed and the player would be sold to West Bromwich Albion on transfer deadline day that summer.

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For Tony Pulis' Baggies, Sessègnon made a further 79 appearances in English football before being released from the Hawthorns last summer at the same time as current Sunderland forward Victor Anichebe.