Fulham left-back Ryan Sessegnon has revealed he idolised Manchester United’s Luke Shaw growing up.
The Cottagers star has been attracting interest from a number of Premier League teams, including Manchester United and Tottenham, as his stock continues to soar.
Sessegnon has scored 13 goals and registered four assists for promotion chasing Fulham this season as his list of admirers grows with each passing week.
And when asked who he idolised when he was growing up, Sessegnon, speaking to the Daily Telegraph, replied: “Luke Shaw.”
When pressed further on the matter, the 17-year-said: “When I was younger I had two players: Luke Shaw and Gareth Bale.
“When Shaw was at Southampton he was a left-back and I loved watching him bomb up and down the wing, create goals, score goals, so I think I try to emulate that. Gareth Bale same thing really.”
Having made a name for himself as a left-back, Sessegnon has excelled since being pushed into a more advanced role, but it’s not an alien role for the teenage sensation.
“At younger ages I was more attacking, and had a striker role through the middle, but as I progressed they pushed me towards left-back. I think they saw the energy and endurance that I have to get up and down the pitch and they just tried to change my game, more for my physical attributes than how I see the game," he added.
"If you can play a variety of positions quite well it gives the manager the option to play you in that position, for one. I don’t think at a young age you know your position well enough so to have one or two is good.”
Fulham travel to Derby today in one of the few Championship games still going ahead following adverse weather, with the west London side hoping to maintain their 12-match unbeaten run.
