One on One | Sessegnon talks about dealing with hype, his move to Tottenham and 'coming home' to Fulham!

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Sky Sports Premier League Podcast 20 min 3 speakers 8 chapters transcribed
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What does Ryan Sessegnon reflect on regarding his early career at Fulham?

Ryan Sessegnon 0:02
We could be here for hours talking about it. It was a real up-and-down journey. At that time, I knew I was young, but I didn't feel like it was crazy what I was doing until I see videos of it now and I look back and I think, yeah, what I was doing at 16 was actually crazy. To describe my time there, it was a roller-coaster, you know, and Tottenham fans probably saw glimpses of what I could do and never really saw me on the pitch anyway, which was frustrating for me. It was a homecoming. Obviously, I really missed the club when I was away. I always said that I would hope there would be a possibility for me to come back at any point and for it to be a reality was crazy for me.
Joe Tomlinson 0:46
Welcome to one-on-one from Sky Sports, the podcast where we chat to some of the brightest stars in the Premier League. I'm Joe Tomlinson. There's no jewels today. And I've been lucky enough to travel to Fulham's Motspur Park training ground to chat to the one and only Ryan Sessegnon. And boy, do we use the word journey to describe some footballing careers. And even though he's not really traveled that far, Ryan Sessegnon's career today has certainly been that, a journey. It's full of ups and downs. And as he says himself, it's really been a roller coaster. Some people might well not remember, but Ryan is the definition of a proper wonderkid. He came through the ranks of the Fulham Academy to the first team at 16 years old and he set all of the records along the way.
Joe Tomlinson 1:28
After winning multiple accolades, he helped Fulham back to the Premier League in 2018 before a really high profile move to Tottenham Hotspur. To use the rollercoaster analogy again, he was definitely on the up. But that's where things started to go, I suppose you could say, a little downhill for Sessegnon.

How did Ryan Sessegnon adapt to the challenges at Tottenham?

Joe Tomlinson 1:43
A series of injuries as well as changes to the management, his playing time was really quite limited. So after going out on loan, he eventually found his way back to Fulham for what he would describe as his homecoming. So as you'll hear, Ryan talks about how his career has really come full circle. He discusses his quite incredible sporting family. His brothers all play, so does his nephew, and how he's learnt to live with the hype. This is my one-on-one with Ryan Sessegnon.
Unknown 2:13
That's Ryan Sessegnon. And Sessegnon! In the wind and the rain, Fulham take the lead. A game of not many chances, Ryan Sessegnon takes his chance.
Joe Tomlinson 2:32
Ryan, thank you so much for joining me. We're here today to look back on your career a little bit. To hype you up, I think is the fair way of putting it because at Fulham you're becoming a bit of a club legend at this stage and you've been here for so long now. I wanted you to take yourself back to when you first arrived. Do you remember that day? Do you remember being scouted by Fulham?
Ryan Sessegnon 2:50
Vaguely, yes. I remember doing like a trial. There was like a Goals not too far from here, me and my brother. I remember my mum taking us down there, doing like a six weeks trial.

What does Ryan Sessegnon describe as his homecoming to Fulham?

Ryan Sessegnon 3:04
And then, yeah, I remember getting the news that we'd been accepted into the academy. And then, yeah, just coming here to Monza Park and then starting up in the under-9s.
Joe Tomlinson 3:12
Because, obviously, you were here with your brother. You've got a serious, talented family, man. Like, I was looking at the amount of players in your family that are footballers. How many is it? Rat them off.
Ryan Sessegnon 3:22
So, me, Stephen, my brother Chris played semi-pro as well.
Joe Tomlinson 3:26
Okay.
Ryan Sessegnon 3:27
I've got a nephew that's in the academy at Fulham here as well. Under 15s, I believe he is. Yeah, 15s. I have a cousin that was at Chelsea as well. And, yeah, my other nephews have dibbled and dabbled in football as well, but not to a certain level.
Joe Tomlinson 3:42
Were your parents, like, sporty? Is that where this comes from?
Ryan Sessegnon 3:45
No, no, no.
Joe Tomlinson 3:46
It's like, what's going on?
Ryan Sessegnon 3:47
What's in the water? I don't know.

How has Ryan Sessegnon's family influenced his football journey?

Ryan Sessegnon 3:48
It's weird, isn't it? I don't know. No, none of them were sporty. Just something in the genes, I guess, yeah.
Joe Tomlinson 3:54
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, your nephew, you said, now is 15 in the academy. We've literally got, like, assessing your lineage developing here at Fulham.

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