Ajax, Fulham both interested in taking Sessegnon on loan

Ryan Sessegnon’s first season at Tottenham Hotspur didn’t go as planned, to say the least. The England U-21 LB/LW dealt with a hamstring injury until November, then found himself on the bench for most matches in 2020 while Ben Davies played almost every possible minute he could.

While the club are still high on the former Fulham player of the year, the rumors coming out of Hotspur Way are that Mourinho doesn’t think he’s ready and may not get much in the way of playing time. According to The Telegraph, both AFC Ajax and Fulham have inquired about Sessegnon’s availability (£) for a year-long loan in the upcoming season.

Ajax want to take Ryan Sessegnon on loan and have asked Tottenham whether the England Under-21 winger will be made available next season.

Sessegnon has a number of clubs interested in giving him regular football but Jose Mourinho is yet to make a decision on the 20 year-old featuring for him in the new campaign or going out for first-team games.

According to the article, it seems Ajax want to utilize him as a winger as they’ve lost Hakim Ziyech to Chelsea and need options in attack, though Ziyech was primarily on the right flank last season at Ajax. Fulham appear to want to use him as a utility left flank, but this is all conjecture as we don’t even know if Mourinho wants to loan him out.

Mourinho spoke about Sessegnon’s potential after his performance against Bayern but insisted he needed development, and to work on winning individual duels. He started four Premier League games during the campaign and did not feature in Project Restart after football’s break for the coronavirus pandemic.

Sessegnon can also play at left-back which means he could be useful for Mourinho next season as Jan Vertonghen has left the club and Danny Rose is out of favour, leaving him with Ben Davies and little cover.

There’s also the question of whether or not young Dennis Cirkin is rated highly enough by Mourinho that he’ll promote him to the first team and see what he can offer. Cirkin is a player that everyone at the club are excited about, but he was only promoted to the U-23 squad on July 1.

In a perfect world, Sessegnon comes into the club last season perfectly healthy and gets far more minutes than he did. That didn’t happen, and now with the transfer window open, the club has to decide what to do. Spurs have been linked with a few fullbacks, including utility flank player Timothy Castagne of Atalanta in Serie A. Castagne can play either fullback or midfield on either side of the pitch. With one year remaining on his contract, he’s already come out and said he has no interest in returning to the Italian club for the new season. The complication is that Atalanta are still in Champions League and face off against Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday. So long as they’re still in that competition, Atalanta aren’t going to negotiate any deal.

A loan for Sessegnon wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, especially if Spurs do bring in some cover at left back. Fulham makes a ton of sense. It’s a very familiar place, his brother Steven is on the first team and Spurs have a good relationship with their fellow London club. Ajax is an intriguing option as he can possibly get Champions League experience with the Dutch club, provided they win their playoff qualifier. The article also hints that there are other clubs but stops short of specifically naming them.

Regardless, there’s options for the 20-year-old. It will be up to Mourinho to make the decision. If he feels he can contribute, this is a non-starter. The moves the club makes in the next two to three weeks should give us a clearer picture.