Three Signs As To Why Ryan Sessegnon Could Be The Next Gareth Bale
Having broken into the Fulham team last season as a 16-year-old without a professional contract, Ryan Sessegnon has been busy setting the Championship alight and moves have been afoot to get him to the Premier League, mainly by Tottenham and Liverpool.
Those clubs can see serious potential, enough to pay crazy money perhaps, and in Spurs’ case they are clearly reminded of a certain Gareth Bale. Here are three striking signs which show that he is fast becoming ‘the next Gareth Bale’:
His Pace
Sessegnon is a lightning and not just in a straight line. His change of direction is frightening and has dazzled defenders at Championship level already. Bale did the same thing for Southampton and to this day, he uses his pace as his main strength.
His Change Of Position
Bale started out as an attacking left-back before moving up the pitch as his career progressed. Sessegnon too is listed as a left-back and can indeed play in that position. But, much earlier perhaps than Bale, he has been moved right up into the attacking three behind Fulham’s striker, given that he has the talent to do so much damage there.
I do hope he is kept in that position. I remember watching Gareth Bale as a young left-back at St Mary’s and had never before seen a player run a game from that position. His real rise came in the Champions League games for Tottenham against Inter Milan, especially scoring a hat-trick at the San Siro in the first leg, which by then meant that people saw him as a winger.
Harry Redknapp held him back a wee bit in my opinion, insisting time and again that his real position is as an attacking full-back, something which looks a little silly now.
His Potential
Bale had such natural talent that you could envisage his rise all the way to the top, long before it happened and it’s the same here with Sessegnon. There’s no doubt that he’ll be a very young England international, though I can only hope they hold back just a little to protect him. Qatar 2022 could be an excellent stretch target for him.
Other than injury, the thing that has let Gareth Bale down is his poor attitude, manifesting itself as a rather cowardly attitude in terms of criticising England time and again and its people, once leaving for Spain, despite having been made as a footballer by its clubs and its leagues. Clearly, he will have no option but to return in due course and will no doubt have a miraculous change of opinion.
Hopefully, Sessegnon keeps a better attitude toward sthe wider football world and decides to play at a club where it is going to be best for him in the long-term.