Ryan Sessegnon is proving you can go back

His return might have raised an eyebrow or two, but Sess is proving to be invaluable to this Fulham side.

There wasn’t much to sing about at full-time last Friday, but Ryan Sessegnon scoring his 30th goal for the club was certainly a reason to be cheerful.

It struck me when I saw the stat (tweeted by Random Fulham Stuff) that Sess was wearing the number 30 both on Friday and when he netted his first Fulham goal, against Cardiff City in August 2016. He graduated to number three, of course, wearing it for two seasons before departing for Tottenham in 2019.

But Ryan’s return to SW6 - and to his original first-team squad number - is illustrative of his willingness to go back to basics in his mission to rediscover what made him so special in the first place.

It’s so easy to forget that Sess is still only 25 years old and is approaching his peak as a footballer. I was in the stands at Brisbane Road in 2016 when he made his debut in the League Cup against Leyton Orient. I leant over to my mate and said “He’s only 16, you know!” so many times that it’s still a quote repeated between us nearly a decade later.

There’s often been debate over where on the left is best to deploy our starboy, but in this second stint we’re finding value at both left-back and on the left wing. Sess is a natural attacker - we know that. He’s got an eye for goal and he’s just as adept at threading a well-timed ball for an assist or two (Wembley, anyone?).

But as Jedi continues his gradual return to fitness, Sess has helped cover the more defensive left-hand gap admirably. That’s meant a few appearances as left wing-back too, which of course allows him to lean into the more attacking side of his game.

Copyright 2025 Leighton Rudd.

Versatility like that can make or break your career. Some coaches aren’t sure where to best use you and so don’t at all - a jack of all trades is a master of none. Spurs thought they were signing a left-back and failed to understand that Ryan is a more complex player than that. And now, his versatility is his strength.

Sess made 22 appearances in all competitions last season - 11 in the starting XI and 11 off the bench. Bar the season opener against Brighton, when he was recovering from a knock sustained in our preseason game against Eintrach Frankfurt, Ryan’s started all six of our Premier League games since, and in the League Cup against Bristol City (he was rested for Cambridge once our new signings had arrived).

It’s clear that Marco sees Ryan as a vital part of his plan this season. Sess’s contract runs until the end of this campaign, and the club has an option to extend for a year, which you would assume is a foregone conclusion. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see a refreshed deal signed before that - this renewed relationship is clearly working for both parties.

They say never go back. And in recent years we’ve seen players like Clint Dempsey and Chris Baird prove this adage. But Sess is showing that if you come back with a willingness to knuckle down, look hard at what makes you special, work with management to enhance that, and above all be patient, then your second stint can be even more fruitful than the first.

For one of our own, it’s all still to play for.