The Athletic’s Tottenham Hotspur correspondent James Maw believes that Ryan Sessegnon could be a “wildcard” against RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, per The View From The Lane podcast (March 10th, 20:22).

What’s he said?

Spurs lost 1-0 to the Bundesliga side in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash, meaning they face an uphill battle to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

Of course, they also lack a number of attacking players; Harry Kane, Steven Bergwijn, and Son Heung-Min are all injured, meaning there is a paucity of options available to manager Jose Mourinho.

Maw, though, believes that Sessegnon could be a legitimate contender to start; he has made 11 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring in the Champions League group stage clash with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

He said: “The team almost picks itself really but I mean if Sessegnon is fully fit and obviously he's had an injury as well.

“This feels like a situation where he may be a bit of a wildcard. It kind of almost feels like a gamble that's probably worth it.

“A little more pace in the team, a little more dynamism, I just feel like, you know, roll the dice a little bit and see what happens.”

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Has to play

With the options available to Mourinho at this point, Sessegnon should be walking into the starting XI.

He’s an option off the flank, offering dynamic dribbling and excellent delivery and he should be picked on the left.

There aren’t many options available - perhaps only Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura can also play on that side - to Mourinho and, as a result, Spurs are massive underdogs.

The worst-case scenario is that they lose, as expected, and exit the competition; the best-case scenario is a surprise win inspired by the youth in the team.

The latter feels like something that could be written in a Roy of the Rovers comic strip and there is nothing stopping Mourinho from experimenting.

Sessegnon needs to be a part of that.

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