Tottenham-owned Ryan Sessegnon briefly experienced something unprecedented from a personal aspect while playing for Hoffenheim in their 3-1 defeat to Union Berlin yesterday.
The former Fulham man – who cost Spurs £25 million – started the match at left-back. However, following an injury to Stefan Posch, Sessegnon moved to centre-back in the 38th minute according to ESPN’s Bundesliga reporter Archie Rhind-Tutt.
Now, this was an unprecedented experience for the 20-year-old.
As Transfermarkt shows, the England Under-21 international has never played at centre-back before across 138 career appearances.
Sessegnon’s experience in the centre of defence lasted until the 60th minute when Max Kruse converted a penalty, after Robert Skov was sent off for the challenge which gifted Union Berlin a spot-kick.
That is again according to Rhind-Tutt, who was at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena to watch the Bundesliga affair. It was the on-loan Tottenham man’s first start in Germany’s top-flight.
Overall, it was a quiet display from the Englishman, although he can be excused.
SofaScore shows he made just one tackle, one interception and one clearance, and also didn’t do a lot going forward with no shots, dribbles or key passes.
It may only have been a 22-minute experience at centre-back for Sessegnon, but there’s no denying that it was a unique spell in football for the youngster which he had never experienced before.
It should be emphasised that he’s never experienced it at any level, let alone in Germany’s top-flight!
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