Fulham vice-chairman Tony Khan has criticised the way Tottenham handled the transfer of Ryan Sessegnon, as it left the Cottagers with little time to find a replacement.

The 19-year-old completed a Deadline Day switch to Mauricio Pochettino's side after Spurs decided to meet Sessegnon's asking price, rather than wait for his contract to run down next summer.

Sessegnon eventually joined departed for a reported fee of £25million but Spurs did not make contact with the Championship club until two weeks before the window closed, despite being long-term admirers of the player.

Khan voiced his frustration with Spurs over the way they conducted the transfer, as the two clubs were some way apart in their valuation of the player right until the eleventh hour when last season's Champions League finalists agreed to pay the asking price.

"We heard from them [Tottenham] for the first time two weeks before the close of the window," Khan told the club's website.

"We had been making all our deals under the assumption that Ryan could wind the contract down and they were not going to offer us anything. I was totally prepared for that.

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“It was not until the middle of the afternoon on deadline day that we actually had a signed agreement. There were multiple breakdowns in the closing days."

The verdict

I think Khan has every right to feel aggrieved with the way Tottenham let this deal run down to the wire, as it has clearly had an impact on Fulham's transfer activity.

If this deal had been sealed a month ago, Fulham would have been able to reinvest some of the fee received into the squad for the new season.

However, the Cottagers were forced to prioritise loan deals in order to comply with Financial Fair Play rules after spending big money in last summer's transfer window.

It seems Tottenham have taken advantage of the fact that Sessegnon was clearly keen on joining them, as they were not in any rush to complete the deal. However, it is a positive for Fulham that they did manage to seal another signing on deadline day, with Harrison Reed arriving at Craven Cottage.