Jokanovic is banking on his iron man Ryan
RYAN SESSEGNON has reached the most pressing engagement of his career – and it is not taking his kit home to wash and iron.
Unless Fulham win promotion at Wembley in their £170million shootout with Aston Villa, the elegant side pieced together by Slavisa Jokanovic is likely to be broken up.
And Sessegnon, the boy wonder Jokanovic insists on calling a “man” because his exotic gifts are way beyond the scope of adolescence, would become the hottest property in London since Mayfair hotels on a Monopoly board.
Only 18 last week, and already the veteran of 80 first-team appearances, he was unlucky not to make the cut as a wild card in Gareth Southgate’s England World Cup squad.
Instead, he found himself patronised for showing the initiative to take his kit home and lobbing some detergent at it when last man out of Craven Cottage at a midweek game after complying with anti-doping requirements.
Jokanovic was not surprised by his £40million-rated winger’s domestication because Sessegnon’s attitude has always been mature beyond his years.
The Fulham manager said: “Every day he shows he’s a great man. I try to avoid calling this man a kid because he’s in an important business and what he’s doing, normal kids can’t do.”
Of washing and ironing his kit, he added: “It’s not only this example, daily he shows the same attitude.
“This man wants to be an important footballer, wants to learn, to improve his concentration and focus.”