'Sessegnon earned my trust two years ago'

Sessegnon got on the scoresheet on Monday night as Fulham turned around their first-leg dficit to see off Fulham and progress to the Championship play-off final.

It capped off a remarkable season that has yielded 16 goals and seven assists in all competitions for the man who only turned 18 on Friday, but speaking to 'The Daily Mail', Jokanovic revealed that he has had faith in the youngster for some time.

"At first I'd brought him in to see what he could offer for the future. After one month he was doing fantastic. He scored a great goal against Brighton and that's when I knew I could trust him," he explained.

"Whether you're 16 and two months or 36, it's simple: he did a better job than others. I wanted to play him against Newcastle but I waited a week. When I put his name on the board, some players thought I'd made a mistake.

"But they were the ones who made the mistake of thinking about themselves. They hadn't noticed this quality. Now he has played more than 80 games. He is special.

"I'm not a father figure to him - he has great parents. I don't know if they shout at him at home but here he is intelligent, he understands what I tell him, he's a clever lad."