Tottenham favorites to sign Ryan Sessegnon after Liverpool drops interest

It looks as though if Tottenham Hotspur want Fulham star-in-waiting Ryan Sessegnon, they’ve pretty much got him. For a while now it’s been reported that Spurs and Liverpool were the two top clubs in contention to sign the 17-year old left back, but the Liverpool Echo is now reporting that the Reds have dropped their interest in Sessegnon, paving the way for Spurs to purchase him... if they want to.

And really, why wouldn’t they want to? Sessegnon is considered a future Premier League star and having just turned 17 is already a big contributor of Fulham’s roster, a club that made the Championship playoffs this season. Sessegnon scored seven goals and tallied five assists in just over 2000 minutes with Fulham this season, and his star should only rise from here.

Spurs are already loaded at left back with Danny Rose (presumably) returning from injury next year and Ben Davies behind him, but when you have the ability to sign a young player as talented as Sessegnon, you do it. He also has the ability to play left midfield, and is young enough that, like Eric Dier, he could be coached into a different position if needed. Plus, Spurs have a proven track record of taking highly talented left backs and developing them into world-class players.

Spurs’ pursuit of Sessegnon has given rise to rumors that the club is ready to offload Rose to Manchester United, but there haven’t been much to those reports beyond paper talk. For what it’s worth, it’s extremely unlikely that Sessegnon would feature much in Tottenham’s first team plans next season regardless of Rose’s final status, and the final decision on where to play is Sessegnon’s.

Sessegnon has yet to sign a professional contract, and while Fulham have offered him one it’s unlikely he’ll sign it. With the tribunal system gone and replaced by the Elite Player Performance Plan, Spurs could sign him for a stupid cheap fee (something around ~£300k), but they would have to work out wages, and that could be a potential sticking point. It’s also worth noting that there has been very little in the way of confirmation from Spurs that they’re interested in Sessegnon, but that could be due to the fact that he is still not yet a professional footballer.

Either way, this is pretty nifty news. A transfer window that includes Ryan Sessegnon is an exciting one, even if he is still mostly potential at this point. Hopefully Tottenham can close the deal early and get him training with the club as soon as possible.