Rebranding Ryan

It’s clear for everyone to see that Ryan Sessegnon’s career at Spurs has not gone to plan.

Months after Spurs lost the Champions League Final in 2019, Sessegnon would join the club on the same deadline day that saw Giovani Lo Celso make the move from Real Betis. This was the same window where the ludicrously talented, but absolutely bonkers Tanguy Ndombele joined the club for nearly £60M.

Whilst Ndombele and Lo Celso were the marquee signings of the last transfer window of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign, the purchase of Sessegnon felt like a really significant transfer.

This was a player who made his debut for Fulham aged 16, and by the time he was 18 had already helped secure Fulham promotion to the Premier League, as well as having 20 league goals to his name. This included a brace against Newcastle at St James’ Park in his debut season, followed a few months later by a hattrick at Bramall Lane in a crazy 5-4 Fulham victory. Who does that?

It’s unsurprising that Sessegnon caught the attention of many top flight clubs, and whilst it is generally unhelpful to compare young players to superstars, it seemed entirely appropriate that ‘Sess’ was being compared to someone whose early career had many similarities – the one and only Gareth Bale.

A left-side player like Sessegnon, Bale began his professional career aged 16 in the Championship, and immediately started scoring goals, and playing at a level that almost seemed impossible for someone so young.

This is clearly a momentous moment for Bale, given he has just announced his retirement from both club and international football. It was a fairy-tale career, but as all Spurs fans fully know, it didn’t come without its fair share of early struggles.

The moment when we really started to see Bale shine was when he got the opportunity to play left wing in Harry Redknapp’s side rather than the left back position he had regularly occupied during his time being Spurs’ ‘curse’. Only at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Bale had played at left mid for Spurs during his first few matches prior to a serious injury, and unsurprisingly shined; by the end of September 2007 (his debut season) he’d already scored 3 goals in all competitions.

The point is, Bale’s value to the team was based on his attacking ability. He was blessed with the talent to take players on, and score goals – something he would do in abundance from the moment he returned to his left midfield role.

This brings me back to Sessegnon. He was signed by Spurs to play as a wing back, and I understand why – he has all the perfect attributes on paper to play there. However, the problem that we appear to have with him is more psychological than ability related – he lacks confidence.

For a player who at aged 16, was happily taking on defences, regularly scoring goals and contributing to his side, it seemed unlikely that confidence would be the major barrier to succeeding on the highest stage, given to borrow a famous song it looked like ‘he was born to play for Spurs’.

Now there are explanations for this lack of confidence – his time at Spurs has been hampered by injuries – in particular his hamstrings appear to be a real problem, however that hasn’t stopped him making great strides, especially since the arrival of Antonio Conte to the club.

In particular, he started this season with a different energy to prior ones. He appeared to have undertaken an extensive training regime over the summer, which rewarded him with a start on the first day of the season (at the expense of new signing Ivan Perisic) and an equalising goal against Southampton, on the way to a 4-1 victory. He would also go on to put in a man of the match performance against an impressive Brighton side not too long after.

Despite some real moments of class, the consistency hasn’t been there and if we’re honest, since the restart of the Premier League following the Qatar World Cup, Sessegnon’s appearances have been shoddy.

At present, he certainly does not look like a player born to play for Spurs, and if we’re honest given Destiny Udogie is arriving in the summer, it begs the question whether there is a future for Sessegnon at the club.

The conclusion I have drawn is that there is no future for Sessegnon as a left wing back. As previously mentioned, we are yet to see any consistency from him in this role, and being honest I’m not convinced he has the defensive ability to really succeed in this position. Conte’s system is designed for wing backs to thrive so the fact Sessegnon isn’t has to be concerning for the club.

However, we need to remember that despite Sessegnon being a player that has made over 200 career appearances, he remains only 22 years old.

It’s time for Spurs to simplify the game for Sessegnon and get him to focus on the aspect of his game that led to Spurs wanting to sign him in the first place – his offensive ability.

Clearly a Destiny-less Spurs means he will largely remain a back-up to Perisic in the LWB slot, but given Spurs having a number of games coming up and it is clear for all to see Son Henug-Min is having a tough season, it could suit both parties for Sessegnon to make a few appearances from the left side of the front three and leave more of the defensive responsibility to others in the side.

I think this is the only way Sessegnon can remain at Spurs long-term, and the value of him demonstrating an ability to play an important role in the side as an attacking option would allow Spurs to focus more on recruiting defenders who are able to execute the wing-back position far more effectively.

Ryan Sessegnon is extremely unlikely to reach the heights of Gareth Bale, but rebrand him as a left-sided attacking player and who knows what the possibilities are? It might not lead to a career that includes 5 Champions League medals, but even if it contributes to just one piece of silverware at Spurs it will have been worth it.