Four years on from his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs fans are still waiting to see the very best of Ryan Sessegnon. Signed in a £25 million deal from Fulham after starring for the west London club in the Championship, the left-sided player has been hampered by a host of injury issues in his time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
That has resulted in such a stop-start Tottenham career to date, with the 23-year-old only making 56 appearances in all competitions for the Lilywhites so far. It remains to be seen what exactly will happen with Sessegnon under new head coach Ange Postecoglou as the Australian will take a look at all the players at his disposal first before making a decision on the squad.
It really is a crucial summer for Sessegnon as he gets set to enter the final two years of the six-year contract he signed when making the move from Fulham to Tottenham in August 2019. Given everything that has happened to him so far in his spell in north London, it really is now or never in terms of the Roehampton-born player getting his Tottenham career off the ground.
Injuries have played a major part in his Spurs woes, with a hamstring issue curtailing his 2022/23 campaign and leaving him on the sidelines a lot longer than expected. Making 23 appearances in all competitions last season, Sessegnon's last Spurs outing came off the bench for the final 11 minutes in the 1-0 home win over Man City at the beginning of February.
The player is now close to full fitness after a serious hamstring injury and is expected to be ready to hit the ground running in pre-season. Summer training for Tottenham's non-international players often begins on the first Monday of July, but football.london understands that some players will return two days earlier this time on Saturday July 1, Postecoglou's first official day of work at Spurs.
Sessegnon needs to make a huge impression on the new boss as soon as pre-season starts as he has plenty of competition for the left-back berth. Ben Davies will be an option there after spending the past 18 months playing on the left of a back three under Antonio Conte, with Destiny Udogie set to link up with the Tottenham team for the first time after his loan spell with Udinese last season.
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Conte's system appeared to be made for Sessegnon after previously excelling in an attacking role for Fulham and contributing with 25 goals and 18 assists in 120 games. While he did make a positive start to last season with a goal on the opening day against Southampton, there was always a feeling that he could offer much more in the final third due to the qualities in his locker.
Maybe impacted by those troublesome hamstring injuries, Sessegnon needs to find a way of returning to the form he displayed on a weekly basis at Fulham or else his Tottenham career could be over before it has even really started. One immediate change that Postecoglou will make to his Spurs team this summer is a formation switch as his sides line up in a 4-3-3 setup.
That means Sessegnon and Co. will now be playing as full-backs, although they will still be given licence to advance forward as the boss likes to operate with inverted full-backs. With a handful of options to choose from at left-back, Sessegnon will have his fingers crossed that he wins the race to become the club's first choice in the position and the appointment of Postecoglou helps take his game to the next level.
If not, a summer exit - whether loan or permanent - could be on the cards for the player if he is to find himself behind Davies and Udogie in the pecking order and his playing time is severely restricted. Sessegnon's contract status does give Tottenham something to really think about over the coming weeks as his transfer valuation is only going to decrease the closer he gets to the final year of his deal, thus meaning this summer really is the ideal time to cash in on him if the club want to get as much money as possible for their No.19.
Sessegnon's future is in the hands of Postecoglou, though, as the Australian needs to assess the players currently at the club to see who can play a big role in his masterplan going forward. Restricted to only 56 appearances for Tottenham so far, it is now or never when it comes to Sessegnon' Spurs career this summer.
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