Why have Fulham decided to re-sign Ryan Sessegnon?

It’s happening. It’s actually happening. Our Sess is coming back to the Cottage to don the famous black and white once more. Injury issues, little game time, who cares? This is Ryan Sessegnon, one of our own, and he’s coming home. So why have we decided to bring him back? George Rossiter takes a look…

His place in the squad

For all the sentimentality involved in this deal, Sess definitely makes sense as a signing considering the gaps that need filling in Fulham’s current roster. A lot of his playing time at Tottenham, and during his loan spell at Hoffenheim in Germany, was spent on the left side of the defence. Admittedly, this was often as a left wing back in a back three or five, a system in which Silva is not likely to ever adapt at Craven Cottage. However, Antonee Robinson is never likely to be displaced as our first choice left back in the near future, so as a man to ‘fill in’ on the odd occasion, Sess will prove capable of doing so, especially with the departure of loanee Fode Ballo-Toure in that position.

At Fulham, though, Sessegnon is most likely to return to the position he played in primarily during his first spell at the club, on the left side of the front three. He was always a key contributor in the final third in his three seasons in the senior side, contributing eight times in 25 games in his breakout season in 2016/17, before scoring 15 times and adding six assists in our promotion winning campaign under Slavisa Jokanovic. Even the following season where Fulham were relegated, Sess managed six assists and scored twice in a poor Fulham side, which earned him his big move to Tottenham. Were Marco Silva to regenerate that attacking confidence in Sessegnon, he could be a key contributor straight away from the left hand side.

Sessegnon’s incredible football brain

If Sessegnon gets fit again, his biggest attribute he brings is undoubtedly his insane ability to read a football game. Seeing his ability to anticipate the flow of a game or where the ball would end up on the pitch at just 16 or 17 years old as he broke through into the Fulham side was astonishing at the time. And unlike fitness, form, strength etc, Sessegnon won’t have lost that football brain that made him one of the country’s most exciting wonderkids half a decade ago.

On so many occasions in that promotion winning season under Jokanovic, Sessegnon poached a silly number of goals from being in the right place at the right time. Whether it be a knock on from a teammate (e.g. from Johansen in the play-off second leg against Derby), getting on the end of a cross (e.g. at Barnsley away in the dying seconds) or being the first player on the pitch to reach a rebound in front of goal (e.g. in the crucial win away to Millwall), Sessegnon always found himself in the right place at the right time. Sess’s ability to see the game better so much better than most others was evident on huge occasions too. Just take the play-off final at Wembley, where his defence-splitting pass took both Villa defenders in his vision out of the game (unlucky John Terry) and found Tom Cairney for the promotion-winning goal. His football brain is at an elite level, it’s just about keeping him fit and confident so that he is able to use it again on a weekly basis in the Premier League.

The feel good factor

Despite the recent interest regarding Emile Smith Rowe, this really has been a slow start to the summer transfer window for Fulham. As of July 24^th, only Fulham and Liverpool are yet to make a permanent senior signing of all 20 Premier League clubs. This is made all the more frustrating for fans considering the notable outgoings so far this summer. Rodak, Wickens, Ballo-Toure, Tosin, Palhinha, Willian, De Cordova-Reid and Broja have all departed and we are yet to see an incoming to replace them. But Sessegnon coming home? That changes everything.

It’s so rare that a player leaves a club and leaves with the best wishes of the fans, teammates and everyone else at the club, but Sess did. He gave everything in a Fulham shirt, he loved the fans, he left respectfully after doing everything he could to take us up and keep us up, even if we did eventually go back down. You could write a whole song book just for the chants sung about Sessegnon in his first spell at the club, and that first game at Old Trafford hearing them sung once again will be a truly special moment. This boy is special, he is so incredibly loved at Craven Cottage and having him come home will help build a huge bond between the fans and the club. The moment he taps the badge after scoring at the Hammersmith End again will be enough to bring thousands of grown men and women to tears.

The Tony Khan effect

Granted, Tony Khan has had his many, many critiques over his Fulham tenure, and his involvement in the transfer market has seemingly minimised in recent seasons. However, this has his fingerprints absolutely all over it. The man absolutely loved the promotion side of 2017/18 that he’d played a part in putting together. Many of that squad spoke of the positive relationships they had with our director of football, which culminated in a holiday paid for by Khan in the summer of 2018 to celebrate promotion to the Premier League.

Sess was a key part of that squad, so bringing him back to the club will be a feel good factor not just for the fans, but for TK too. Assuming Tim Ream’s move to the MLS does go through this summer, only Tom Cairney will remain from that team which was equally loved by fans for the style of play under Jokanovic and the 23 game unbeaten run they went on between December and May to burst into the play-off places. Having Sess back will feel like the first signing in a while which has the famous Tony Khan seal of approval.

Marco Silva’s revitalizing abilities’

Unlike Khan, Silva has no real affiliation to our Sess, so he must have seen something in Sessegnon to approve the deal. This is especially interesting considering recent reports that, despite speaking to Fulham previously in the transfer window, Sess had been on trial at Crystal Palace in recent weeks with the view to signing for the club. Whether the deal fell through due to Fulham’s interest or due to Glasner turning down the chance to sign Sess is unknown, but we are very glad he’s choosing to come home.

In a recent article written about why the club may want to make Emile Smith Rowe their club record signing (read more here), in which one key point was made regarding Silva’s ability to get the best out of his players. Not only that, but his ability to get the best out of players whose careers look to have dipped form and fitness wise and need their confidence boosting through brilliant man management and effective coaching to get them back to their best. We know Marco is the man for that, as he’s shown on countless occasions over the past three years at the club. Whilst Willian and Tim Ream have been the standout names in that regard, taking one young forward in Rodrigo Muniz from a disappointing loan spell in the Championship and making him a potent Premier League number nine shows Silva can work his magic with anyone, however low their career has fallen.