Spurs want Sessegnon twins but £25m for Ryan is rejected

Tottenham Hotspur have had a bid worth up to £25 million for the 17-year-old Fulham prodigy Ryan Sessegnon rejected.

The England Under-19 international is one of the hottest properties in English football and started the Championship match against Leeds United last night having signed his first professional deal in June with his childhood club. The size of the offer reflects the expanding market and also the value placed on young English talent.

Spurs are also interested in Ryan’s twin brother Steven, who made his debut in the EFL Cup match against Wycombe in August.

Both players signed their professional deals having turned 17 – the earliest they could do so – on May 18. Both the boys, who grew up in Roehampton in south-west London, are happy at Fulham and have put no pressure on the club to sell them.

The fee offered would be close to the £25.5million Manchester United paid in August 2004 for the 18-yearold Wayne Rooney, the record price for an English teenage footballer.

Fulham, under the ownership of American billionaire Shahid Khan, are ambitious for promotion to the Premier League. They have refused to countenance the sale of midfielder Tom Cairney this summer and for the time being seem willing to reject an extraordinary amount of money for two products of the club’s outstanding academy.

There has been interest throughout the big Premier League clubs in the progress of Ryan in particular, who played a full part in his team’s Championship season last time around, which ended in play-off defeat by Reading.

As a left-sided English player he has a considerable value in the transfer market and the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs registered an interest before eventually he committed himself to the club long term.

Sessegnon has had a successful summer and won the European Championship in Georgia with England Under-19s.