Ryan Sessegnon believes Antonio Conte could be “perfect” to help kickstart his Tottenham career.
Sessegnon, 21, joined Tottenham for £25m in 2019 and was regarded as one of English football’s best young prospects with a huge future in front of him.
But the England under-21 international has endured a frustrating two-and-a-half years at White Hart Lane because of injuries, managerial changes and was even farmed out on loan to Hoffenheim.
However, no one should doubt Sessegnon’s talent and it appears that Spurs boss Conte is finally ready to give the versatile left-footer a proper chance.
Sessegnon was courted by Mauricio Pochettino who was axed as manager soon after, Jose Mourinho played him on the wing, it did not click under Nuno Espirito Santo and now Conte is prepared to trust him as a left wing back up against Mo Salah.
Londoner Sessegnon said: “We have a lot of belief under the coach. He gives us the energy and intensity from the way he is and that runs throughout the whole team.
“That’s the passion that we need to bring on the pitch and I think we’ve shown that. We’ve shown that in many games.
“For me, especially, in terms of the formation that we play it is perfect for me in that left wing back role which I think is probably my best position because it allows me to attack and also in defence.
“For me, it’s given me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.”
Sessegnon was one of the most sought after youngsters when he joined Tottenham but it was Pochettino’s influence which persuaded him to move to Spurs - only for him to be on his way months later.
But Conte has now made him a regular - and he is determined to take his chance.
“I think ever since I’ve come to the club, all I’ve wanted to do is to play games for this team,” said Sessegnon. “In previous seasons, I’ve had a lot of injuries and things like that. Different managers and for whatever reason, I’ve not played many games.
“But, again, this season is a chance for me and the gaffer has played me in a lot of games so far and I just want to repay him with good performances.”
The biggest interruption on Sessegnon’s progress under Conte has been Tottenham’s Covid lockdown which forced them to shut down for two weeks.
Sessegnon admits it has been “frustrating” and warned the club cannot fall too much further behind in their fixture list.
He added: “It’s not been so difficult, more frustrating because we’ve not been able to play with all the games being postponed. But again, we’ve been training hard and the boys have stuck together and we’ve dealt with this situation and we managed to get the game on.
“It’s our job. We want to get training done and play games on the weekend. When that doesn’t happen, it’s frustrating for us players.
“When games are being called off it’s frustrating because you just want to get through the period of games, winning as many games as we can.
“You just want to get the games done, don’t want to be playing with games in hand and we don’t want to fall behind.”
