This is a massive moment for Sessegnon and our future as a team
JOKANOVIC:
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 £170 million shootout with Aston Villa, the elegant side pieced together by Slavisa Jokanovic is likely to break 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. Boss Jokanovic (below) was not surprised by his £40million-rated winger’s domestication because Sessegnon’s attitude has always been mature beyond his years.
But should Fulham falter, Sessegnon will be coveted by a swarm of Europe’s top clubs, skipper Tom Cairney will also be in demand and on-loan striker Aleksandar Mitrovic will return to Newcastle, his future less certain.
Villa will be especially wary of Sessegnon’s creased lightning after he led them a merry dance in February and Jokanovic 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.
“He’s going the right way about it. I make so many answers about him, but this man doesn’t make mistakes.” Jokanovic, now on Chelsea’s radar, has refused to speculate about his own future, or those of his stars, until Fulham know their fate.
Twelve months ago, they were pipped by turgid Reading in the play-off semi-finals and he reaffirmed: “I’m not talking about my future or the future of my players.
“Mitrovic has done a great job, and you can more or less have an idea about what kind of answer I can give you about keeping him, but I prefer not to talk about the future until we get there.
“All that matters now is we have this chance to cross this line and be a Premier League team again. We want to show our best level at Wembley but know it’s more important to cross the line.” Villa’s ageing team will be propped up at the back by 37-yearold John Terry, and Mitrovic – 14 goals in 17 Fulham games – will be instructed to give him a guided tour of Wembley, where he has played 32 times for club or country.
Jokanovic said: “Probably we need to make Terry move a little more and stop him having the opportunity to use all his experience. If you don’t make Terry and James Chester tired, it’s going to be easy for them.”