Tottenham sacking Antonio Conte hurt me - I was devastated by what happened next

Ryan Sessegnon has opened up on his Tottenham injury hell and the moment that left him in tears as he attempted to get his career back on track. Making the move to north London in the summer of 2019 after excelling for Fulham, the left-sided player was restricted to only 57 appearances for Spurs due to a catalogue of different injuries.

Getting a decent run of games in the Tottenham team during Antonio Conte's tenure before suffering yet another hamstring injury at the beginning of 2023, Sessegnon would only feature in one game under Ange Postecoglou, the man who replaced the Italian at the helm, after requiring surgery on his left hamstring in the summer. In his bid to return to the Tottenham team in early 2024 with his contract soon coming to an end, Sessegnon would unfortunately have to go under the knife on his right hamstring following another devastating blow while playing for the club's Under-21s.

Now back at Fulham following his Tottenham exit in the summer, Sessegnon has opened up such a tough year in his career when speaking to Rising Ballers about his journey to date.

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"Back from the injury, the season ends and Conte is gone, Conte gets sacked," explained the left-back. "It kind of hurt me a little bit knowing the relationship me and Conte had was good, but obviously they made their decision to get rid of him and as players you just have to get on with it I guess. That's what we did.

"So when he went they obviously brought in Ange Postecoglou, who is a very good coach, a very good guy. Obviously you come back the following season ready again, gone away and done my stuff ready to go again and in pre-season one of the training sessions I got injured again. That's how it kind of started with me under him.

"I remember I was in training and took a shot. We were doing this transition thing and I was playing on the right-wing and I cut inside and shot. Unbelievable shot by the way, top corner. I shot, [Sergio] Reguilon was kind of defending me, but you know because I felt something I didn't care about the shot but it was a crazy goal.

"I remember when it happened I knew the feeling of how it felt the last time. I remember walking out of the session and going to the physio. I was devastated. I didn't go on the pre-season tour, I remember staying behind and I was out until November I think. It was four months but this time it was different because this one I actually had to have surgery and this was the one on my left.

"I remember pretty early they told me I need surgery. I remember doing that and two or three days after I went to central London and did the surgery. So now I have a brace and I'm on crutches, but at the same time the Mrs is pregnant. Mrs was giving birth two weeks after the surgery and you can imagine I cannot even stand so I'm sitting down. Mrs is about to give birth and I'm trying to help her but you feel you aren't much help because you're sitting down and I can't do anything.

"To juggle my injury and having the baby at the same time was hard, it was crazy. But it kind of made me forget the journey of being injured go quite quick as the focus is on the recovery from the birth and the child as well. Looking back, it was probably a great time that it happened as I could spend so much more time with the baby with not being on the pitch and stuff.

"That was me for about two or three months and then when I obviously came back they didn't want to rush me with my rehab so I was training with the Under-21s and getting sessions there, playing one or two games with them. So I played a game with the Under-21s against West Ham at the training ground. It was one of my first games coming back from the injury, feeling good and everything was all good.

"I remember playing that game, I think about 30-35 minutes into the game, and I get the ball, tap it past someone and as I'm running and trying to get the ball on the other side I feel this one [right hamstring] go. I'm thinking 'no way'. First game back from this long injury that I've just had and I'm thinking 'this cannot be real, what's going on'. I end up pulling up and this one feels worse, this one feels bad. This one [left hamstring] I could walk off the pitch, but this one [right hamstring] I couldn't walk off the pitch.

"I remember collapsing on the floor, they brought the buggy over and I think I'm crying at this point, obviously devastated. They put me on the buggy, drove to the medical team and do the tests. They don't need to do the tests because I know what's happened. I've gone to get a scan I believe the next day as you have to wait for the swelling to go down, done the scan and they've told me surgery again.

"I've just done four or five months on this [left hamstring] and now they're saying a similar time with this [right hamstring]. As you can imagine I have to do the whole process again, the recovery, brace, crutches and all that kind of stuff. All sorts is going through your head.

"I'm thinking I'm in the last year of my contract, this is the year I really need to play games and do something, and obviously this has happened. Maybe at the back of my mind I am panicking a little bit. So basically that season is written off. Pre-season I've done that [left hamstring] and during the season I've done that [right hamstring], so pretty much the season is done. I remember saying this season is done.

"I had the operation and I'm just doing my rehab at the club, coming back with that kind of stuff and then as time is going on and I'm noticing there's no real talk with my agent about renewing or a new contract or anything like that. I already knew what time it was.

"I had an option in my contract and got told they're not going to activate the option. But I got told from my agent not long after the injury that I wasn't going to get that option, they weren't going to activate. That's when you obviously speak to your agent and start thinking what's going to happen, what teams can be interested in you and all that kind of stuff. And that's how it happened.

"I was fine because I knew that was going to happen because of the situation I was in at the time. Obviously it wasn't a nice feeling, and I wanted to stay at the club and see what's going to happen in that type of situation, but it is what it is. I kind of knew it was coming but you just have to adapt."

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