Ryan Sessegnon believes he is feeling better right now than he has at any time since joining Tottenham Hotspur.
The 21-year-old has suffered a number of hamstring problems since arriving at Spurs in the summer of 2019 and spent a season on loan at Hoffenheim last season.
However, he has now found an admirer at Tottenham in Antonio Conte and the Italian has handed him five starts in a row along with plenty of praise for the England U21 international.
Sessegnon has responded with some impressive performances, particularly against Manchester City and Leeds, the latter bringing an assist for Matt Doherty to score from the other flank.
"I feel great in my body, the best I’ve felt since I’ve been at the club," Sessegnon said in an interview for the club's newsletter.
"Yes, for sure, starting five games in a row is the most for me at the club so far, so yes, I’m in a good place physically and mentally, and long may it continue.
"To feel good is obviously very important. Then, the way the manager wants me to play, up and down, up and down, the energy levels have to be there. I’ve shown that in the last few games and that’s good, getting that consistency under my belt."
On that goal combination with Doherty at Leeds, Sessegnon added: "It was very good for me to get that assist, and that’s how the manager wants us to play.
"That’s one of my strengths. Harry Winks did well to play the ball through, I’d made the run in behind, saw Matt at the back post and I think that’s the first time wing-back to wing-back for a goal.
"If we keep doing more of that, I’m sure we’ll score a lot of goals."
Conte is a big fan of Sessegnon's and told football.london last week that he believes the young wide man can go on to big things for club and country.
"Sess in my vision has all the possibility to become an important player. First of all he is young and has in front of him a lot of years," he said.
"He is strong physically and fast, has a good engine, a resilience. He has good quality. Sometimes I think he feels a bit of pressure. But with me he played important games, against Liverpool, against Chelsea, against City.
"It means I trust him. If you remember in the last game I changed the system, but only for this I took him off after 30 minutes.
"I explained it was a tactical situation, but we are talking about another player that if he works and you have patience to work with him he is another player that can become and important player, also for England, the national team, but the first person that has to be convinced is himself. I trust him in the same way I trust all the players."
Sessegnon's competition in the left wing-back slot is Sergio Reguilon, who has returned from a bout of Covid.
"He had COVID, I think he had a bit of a problem to recover from this, but Sergio knows very well he has to fight to play, because also there is at this moment Sessegnon, that is playing regularly, he is having good performances," Conte told football.london.
"We have four wing-backs, with Doherty and Emerson, and also during the game, sometimes if I want to try to push the game I can put in this position also Kulusevski.
"There are four players and every game I try to decide for the best for the team , to make the best decision. There are not players stable to play every game, I can play Sessegnon, I can play Reguilon, I can play Doherty, I can play Emerson, it depends on the training session.
"Not only in these roles, but in every role. From now until the end, we have to try to get the best from the players. It is not to the time to wait for anybody. The players that are in good form, they play. The others, they are on the bench, or in the crowd."
