Don't Blame Ryan If He Wants To Cash In

FOR Ryan Sessegnon, Fulham’s scout-baiting wonderkid, decision-time is hurtling over the horizon.

- Chris Dunlavy

Stay at Craven Cottage and develop in peace? Or accept an offer from a Premier League behemoth and risk a splinter-ridden backside?

On paper, it seems obvious. From John Bostock to Nick Powell, we can all think of talented teens whose burgeoning careers foundered on the rocky shores of fame and fortune.

If the Championship’s most adventurous left-back is good enough at 17, he’ll be even better in two years. Where’s the harm in staying put?

Yet, for every Powell and Bostock, there’s a Ryan Mason. This time three years ago, the midfielder had just signed a five-year deal with Spurs and donned his first cap for England. At 23, the North Londoner must have thought he had all the time – and security – in the world.

As we now know, he did not. A clash of heads with Chelsea’s Gary Cahill in January 2017 fractured Mason’s skull. Last week, on doctors’ orders, he retired from football.