Football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor has opined that it will be a big mistake for Tottenham to loan out Ryan Sessegnon this summer.
The young Englishman joined Spurs from Fulham last summer and he was expected to walk straight into their first team after impressing for the Cottagers in the Championship and in the Premier League.
As Jose Mourinho targets established players in different positions in his team, the special one has been tipped to send out Sessegnon on loan to further his development in the coming campaign.
Several teams like Ajax have been linked with a move for him this summer, however, Stafford-Bloor believes it will be a big mistake for him to leave them temporarily.
He argued that players like him develop better when they are kept at the club and allowed to get used to the environment and that sending him out on loan is a sure way to ensure that he doesn’t succeed at the club.
He said to the Football Writers Podcast: “I think it’s important to understand what Sessegnon is. He’s a component within a side. He’s a very, very smart footballer, he is someone that reads the play very well, he’s someone that moves to the right positions at the right time.
“At Spurs, he’s had so little opportunity to rediscover his equilibrium. Literally, in terms of minutes on the pitch, he hasn’t had an opportunity to play consistently with the cornerstone pieces of Tottenham’s side – with [Harry] Kane, [Heung-min] Son, [Toby] Alderweireld, any of the full-backs – so he’s in this situation where without being an individualist player, it’s very difficult for someone like him whose confidence has taken a hit and whose ego has been bruised, it’s going to be very difficult for someone like him to make his case from the outside.
“The solution in this situation is always ‘well just loan them out somewhere and help him rediscover himself’. And it’s not the solution. That’s just out of sight, out of mind. If you want a player like Sessegnon to succeed at a club like Spurs, he has to stay at Spurs and you have to integrate him.
“I remember seeing him with the England age-group teams, and he’s a fantastic footballer. He’s a very impressive individual. And he will succeed if the conditions around him are adjusted to suit him and I think it would be a very serious mistake for Spurs to bounce him out because it doesn’t serve their long-term interests. It’s the fast way to ensuring that he won’t succeed at the club.”
Stafford-Bloor makes some good points but the reality is that if Sessegnon does not fit in with Mourinho’s plans then it would be far better to loan him out as opposed to him wasting away on the bench or on the fringes.
I have only seen him in one game and I don’t like saying this but I was surprised at how poor he looked. I just get the feeling JM isn’t the person to sort him out.
For his age he’s played a lot of competitive games. He don’t need to be loaned out to get more games. He just needs to learn more under José. I certainly wouldn’t be loaning him out. Oliver skip now is the opposite.
I’d keep him and develop him on the pitch, technically so much better than Davis and just needs confidence to be himself on the pitch – Jose’s job. Would love to see him left and up of a back centre half three of Sanchez, Dierdre and Toby with Japhet as right full back
He has to be getting game time and experience whether it is with us or out on loan.. He is still a teen at 20 but he has to be playing or he won’t develop.. Play him or loan him its simple. We need a left back and a right back badly.. If Sessy is rotating for son on left wing there will be plenty of europa league and cup games he could play. Same if he’s rotating with Davies at left back.. He will probably be loaned if maureen doesn’t like him… I want to see us selling players we don’t need (rather than players we need).. And buying players we need (rather than players we don’t need).. Last few windows we’ve been going backwards.
To be honest though, in the EPL appearances he has made, Sessegnon has not shown any evidence that he is a Premier League calibre full back. Even though he is undoubtedly comfortable on the ball, he appears to lack the confidence or courage to take defenders on, one on one, but rather continually looking to ‘play it safe’ and lay the ball off.
Tanganga, by way of contrast, has absolutely looked like a quality defender from the first time he pulled on a shirt in the EPL. Very physical, brave and he also displayed one or two powerful marauding runs, when Mourinho played him at full back and was not afraid to take on defenders. So chalk and cheese compared to Sessegnon in my observation.
Not saying he won’t turn out to be a success. However, he looks very similar to KWP who we just sold. Sess hasn’t shown all that much quality in the PL for either us or Fulham. He’s still young but there is the possibility that he’s the type of player who thinks he’s hit the big time signing for Spurs and will not improve. The difference at this level is often mental and its possible he doesn’t have the right mentality. Goodness know we’ve seen enough players like that over the years.
Sessegnon has played in the Premier League and I think we’re making very hard work of this, play him and let’s find out what he can do instead of this undermining of players. It’s not as if we’re overstocked with talent at left back. Baffling this carry on. Are we going to do the same to Tanganga build him up and knock him down?