Ryan Sessegnon had the pick of the bunch in terms of teams in 2019
Ryan Sessegnon had the world at his feet before his transfer to Tottenham
Ryan Sessegnon has explained his decision to snub Liverpool and Manchester United in favour of Spurs.
The 24-year-old full-back broke through the youth academy of Fulham as a youngster, making his first team debut at the age of just 16 during a 2016 EFL Cup game against Leyton Orient. After three full years at the London side and with 123 senior appearances under his belt, Sessegnon received a wealth of interest after catching the attention of a number of Premier League giants.
Manchester United were reported to have touched base with the Craven Cottage faithful in May 2019, with hopes of bringing the rising talent to Old Trafford - while Spurs and Juventus were also thought to have had an interest in Sessegnon at the same time. And two years earlier than that, Liverpool was said to be debating swooping in for the left-back before eventually opting to bring in Andy Robertson from Hull City.
Anfield would have undoubtedly been a dream location for Sessegnon at the time, having idolised Steven Gerrard in his formative years and falling in love with Liverpool as a side. Sessegnon has also previously admitted to sporting a Liverpool kit during his childhood and wearing it to play football with friends—however, a professional appearance in a Reds kit would evade him, so Sessegnon instead signed for Spurs in 2019 on a £25million deal.
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And speaking on a recent instalment of the Rising Ballers podcast, Sessegnon gave his reasoning for making his way to north London as opposed to the other clubs which had shown an interest in him. He explained: "So Tottenham were chasing me for a number of years, and I knew that [Mauricio] Pochettino at the time wanted me a lot.
"Once I kind of saw that Tottenham were really pushing to sign me, that's when I thought 'you know what'. And they'd just got to the Champions League final the year before when they lost against Liverpool. So I thought me as a young player working under Pochettino, it was probably the right time to go there and work under him - so I decided to make the jump there."
Sessegnon also revealed how transfers initially start in the footballing world, insisting that agents will notify players which teams are interested before negotiations proceed. He continued: "So I think initially, it starts like your agent will tell you what teams are interested when your contract is either running out or there's high interest in you, stuff like that.
Sessegnon made a name for himself at Fulham ( Image: Getty Images)
"I knew what teams were after me that season we got relegated in the Premier League. From there, it was just about kind of choosing where I wanted to go, and yeah, that's how I chose Tottenham. Obviously my agent told me about all the things behind the scenes with the club, and how they wanted to sign me. All that kind of stuff."
While Sessegnon ultimately got the transfer he wanted, his time at Spurs was far from fruitful. Pochettino was sacked by Spurs in November 2019 as Spurs languished at 14th in the Premier League, with chairman Daniel Levy bringing Jose Mourinho on board.
Sessegnon played just six games in the 2019/20 Premier League season before spending the 2020/21 campaign on loan at TSG Hoffenheim. Upon his return, he made his way into the Spurs first team, playing 15 league games in the 2021/22 season and 17 across 2022/23.
However, recurring hamstring injuries would force Sessegnon to miss the entirety of last season, barring a sole appearance in the FA Cup and for the reserve team, before the defender was released by Spurs over the summer. Sessegnon has since signed for Fulham once again as he hopes to replicate successes with the team from his earlier years - however, the full-back has made just one Premier League appearance for the side this season, coming on as a substitute for first-choice Antonee Robinson against his old club Spurs earlier this month.
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