Tottenham Hotspur left wing-back Ryan Sessegnon left Danny Murphy stunned on the weekend as the BBC pundit hailed Antonio Conte’s influence.
Murphy had been discussing some of the standout young prospects in the Premier League who he expects to shine in a recent appearance on TalkSPORT.
Sessegnon was given the spot at left wing-back on Saturday afternoon by Conte and he certainly repaid the Italian’s trust as he put Spurs level with a bullet header in the first half.
The London-born wing-back played 66 minutes before being taken off by the Italian to be replaced with Ivan Perisic who started the final pre-season game against AS Roma.
But having seen Sessegnon perform against Southampton, Murphy is convinced Sessegnon will be a success this season and has him only behind Gabriel Martinelli and Fabio Carvalho in his top three youngsters to watch out for:
“The other one, and probably the strongest performance of the weekend and who finished the season really well, is Sessegnon at Spurs. He looks – and I’m sure Conte’s had something to do with this – a real physical specimen.
“He’s always had the technical gift, he’s got a sweet left foot, he’s got good skill and he can dribble. But he looks powerful, he looks hungry and he looks confident. And that is a combination you want.
“Obviously people think [Ivan] Perisic is going to walk into the side ahead of him at wing-back. I think Tottenham have a lot of games and if Sessegnon plays like he does at the weekend, there’s nobody will be walking in ahead of him.”
TIF Thoughts on Murphy’s comments…
Sessegnon’s start on Saturday may have come as a surprise to some given he was starting ahead of the first of the summer signings, Perisic.
Who would you start vs Chelsea?
Ryan Sessegnon
Ivan Perisic
However, the 22-year-old played like he had a point to prove and was rewarded with his first league goal for Spurs and a 9/10 rating in Alasdair Gold’s post-game article.
Sessegnon’s return has definitely been a major concern during his time at Spurs with just two goals to his name across his 34 appearances for the Lilywhites.
But as Murphy suggests, Conte looks to be fine-tuning Sessegnon and with the competition provided by Perisic, perhaps Sessegnon can kick on to show signs of the form shown during his days at Fulham.