Graham Roberts has revealed that he sees similarities between Gareth Bale’s early days at Tottenham and Ryan Sessegnon’s current predicament.
After struggling to get a run of matches under his belt in his first season at Tottenham, Sessegnon showed glimpses of quality on loan at Hoffenheim last season, finishing the campaign with 2 goals and 3 assists in 23 Bundesliga appearances.
The 21-year-old will be hoping to build on the form he showed in Germany and stake a claim for a place in the starting line-up under Nuno Espirito Santo at Spurs.
Sessegnon started both of Tottenham’s Europa League play-off legs against Pacos De Ferriera as a left-wing-back as Nuno decided to employ a back five.
The Spurs boss admitted after Spurs’ 3-0 win on Thursday that there is a lot more to come from Sessegnon over the course of the season, with the player remaining on the bench during the win against Watford.
Roberts believes that a switch from left-back to playing further forward might free Sessegnon to express himself.
The Tottenham legend told Football Fancast about the England Under-21 international: “He doesn’t take people on. Gareth Bale was like this when he first came.
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“Sessegnon reminds me of Gareth Bale, just plays it simple, and then when Gareth Bale got moved forward like Sessegnon has, he started taking people on, scoring goals.
“Sessegnon has to go to that next level and if he doesn’t, then I can see him moving on.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Sessegnon has the athleticism and engine needed to be a modern-day wing-back, I am not convinced that he is technically good enough on the ball to become a regular for us. I expected the 21-year-old to be loaned out again this season but it looks like Nuno wants to keep him at the club and work on his game.
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