Ryan Sessegnon has admitted that Jose Mourinho was ‘right’ to question his defending at Tottenham Hotspur, as he told ESPN.
When Mourinho was at Spurs, the outspoken coach made it clear that Sessegnon wasn’t ready to play as a left-back, whilst also comparing him to England great, Ashley Cole.
For some, Mourinho can be too full-on and his brutally honest ways are hard to take.
That was proven during his days in north London when he openly criticised Tanguy Ndombele, who has since been loaned out to Lyon.
Nonetheless, Sessegnon has shared that Mourinho questioning his defending is something he agrees with, as he explained the problems he had in his game.
“In a way, I understood what he was saying,” said Sessegnon. “The defensive side, at that time, I wasn’t as aggressive off the ball as he wanted me to be.
“Looking back now, I kind of agree with what he was saying. It wasn’t until I went to Germany, I think my defensive side improved, in terms of physicality and being aggressive off the ball.
“I needed that trip in Germany to really understand what he was saying. When he is saying the stuff about learning to defend better, at that time, he was right.”
Signed up by Spurs for £25 million in 2019 (BBC Sport), things have been pretty tough for Sessegnon since.
Injuries after injuries have derailed his progress – he has only played 27 times during that period.
To put that into context, Emerson Royal, who only joined in the summer, already has 34 games under his belt for the club and at times he has been dropped.
For Sessegnon, it’s about staying away from the treatment room because if Antonio Conte can unlock his talent, then there is a goalscoring wide man inside the young English player.
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