£39m+ down the drain: Spurs being rinsed by “Championship player” who’s cost £1m per 90-
This struggling star has been a colossal failure of a signing.
Tottenham Hotspur are in the thick of a battle for Champions League qualification in the Premier League, with Ange Postecoglou seeking a positive finish to his first campaign in London.
After finishing eighth last season and resultingly losing Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, Spurs were in desperate need of a reset and the Australian has offered just that, placing the pillars of a new era despite much ebbing and flowing.
Several exciting signings have been made to shape the improving team, while one of Postecoglou’s first ports of call was to ship out deadwood such as Tanguy Ndombele and Davinson Sanchez – also ridding his system of the out-of-favour Eric Dier last month – there are still players yet to be shipped on that very much look without a successful future down N17.
Spurs’ signing of Ryan Sessegnon
Ryan Sessegnon, who has only made one pitiful appearance this season—against Burnley in the FA Cup—is one player who is undoubtedly nearing the end of their Lilywhites career. He continues to struggle with fitness.
After impressing in the second division and recording 25 goals and 18 assists in 120 appearances, the 19-year-old left-back—who was also a capable winger—was signed by Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino in 2019 for a reported £25 million.
Life on the major stage had such promise for this dynamic flanker and while Sessegnon is still only 23, he will need to get a grip on his fitness sooner rather than later to live up to the chatter when plying his trade for the Cottagers.
Ryan Sessegnon’s cost at Spurs so far
Sessegnon has completed 57 appearances for Tottenham, scoring three goals and providing four assists for his teammates, but there is no questioning the fact that he has fallen by the wayside after prodigious beginnings and, out of contract next summer, might be approaching the end of his time at the club.
Although his injury problems are regrettable, Jon Wenham, a Tottenham expert, has said that he appears like a “Championship player” during his time on the field.
After deducting the player’s transfer fee from his pay during his Tottenham tenure, the total cost to the club is estimated to be above £39 million.
To put that into perspective, Sessegnon has played 3,391 minutes for the team overall, according to the well-known football research website Transfermarkt. This means that he has cost the team about £1 million every 90 minutes. That is a depressing read..
| Ryan Sessegnon Spurs Salary vs Teammates | |
|---|---|
| Player | Salary |
| Ryan Sessegnon | £55k-per-week |
| Yves Bissouma | £55k-per-week |
| Micky van de Ven | £55k-per-week |
| Emerson Royal | £40k-per-week |
| Bryan Gil | £40k-per-week |
| Oliver Skipp | £40k-per-week |
| Source: Capology | |
As the table shows, Sessegnon is on par with first-team stars such as Micky van de Ven and Yves Bissouma, while sitting comfortably above a host of players who compete in Postecoglou’s matchday plans with regularity.
The unfortunate injury problems that have plagued him for a large portion of his career are getting to the point where chairman Daniel Levy needs to decide whether to keep him on the team. The club’s new chapter will need a certain level of ruthlessness to catch up to the Premier League’s Arsenal, Manchester City, and Liverpool.
In the end, Sessegnon is still only 23 years old and has a genuine chance to make a comeback, but he would be better off leaving Tottenham to join a team that has a better chance of giving him a prominent, regular starting position.
