Versatile Tottenham man thrilled by lofty Jose Mourinho comparison

Tottenham youngster Ryan Sessegnon has said that Jose Mourinho is always giving him pointers on how to improve his game.

Sessegnon, who can play as a left-back or as a left-winger, has also stated that he was excited as soon as he knew that Mourinho was coming in as the new head coach of Tottenham.

The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November.

Sessegnon, who moved to Spurs from Fulham in the summer of 2019 for £25 million., has struggled with a hamstring injury this season, and has played just 16 minutes in the Champions League and only 17 minutes in the Premier League.

However, Mourinho rates the 19-year-old highly, and he recently compared the England Under-21 international to former Arsenal and Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole.

Sessegnon is delighted to have earned such lofty praise from Mourinho, and he has also stated how the Spurs boss is helping him improve and develop his game.

“As soon as Spurs appointed him, it was exciting,” Sessegnon said. “He’s a big manager in the game, he’s won things and as a young player you can only look to improve yourself under him.

“He’s always talking to me, giving me pointers and tips where I can improve. He’s a manager who obviously wants to win things which is one of the reasons why I’m here.

“It’s flattering to be compared to someone like that, someone who I think is a great player and for someone like the manager to put my name in the same breath as Ashley Cole was big for me.

“It does give a lot of belief and confidence for upcoming games and it makes me want to work even harder to get more. I definitely had an eye on Ashley Cole when I was growing up. I was an attacking full-back, very aggressive but can also go forward and supply goals, assists and he was definitely one of the players that I looked up to.”

Tottenham are in action on Wednesday evening when they take on Bayern Munich in Germany in Champions League Group B.

With Spurs having already finished runners-up in the group to progress to the last-16 stage of the competition, Mourinho is set to include Sessegnon in his starting lineup at the Allianz Arena and give some of the fringe players valuable playing time.

READ MORE – Paul Merson has given his take on the race for the Premier League top four.