Thursday 10 May 2018 15:25, UK
Fulham head coach Slavisa Jokanovic does not think Ryan Sessegnon's future at the club rests on promotion to the Premier League.
The west Londoners face Derby in their Championship play-off semi-final with the first leg at Pride Park on Friday night, live on Sky Sports.
Fulham were defeated by Reading over two legs last season but Jokanovic insists a repeat of that failure would not see highly-rated Sessegnon, who won five EFL awards this season, depart Craven Cottage.
Asked whether the result of the semi-final would dictate the 17-year-old's future, Jokanovic said: "I don't believe it. I'm asked many times this question and right now I'm focused on our present - this is more important.
"And at the same time Ryan is focused for trying to make it our best performance.
"I don't believe that these two games ahead of us we are worrying about Ryan Sessegnon's future; we are only thinking about this challenge and the best way to win the game."
Sessegnon, who has hit 15 league goals this season, is reportedly a target for French giants PSG and the likes of Tottenham and Manchester United, but Jokanovic remains cool over the England starlet's Fulham future.
He said: "Yesterday we are talking about Real Madrid, two days ago [we're talking] about Man Utd. This is a normal situation for us and for him too."
Fulham failed to clinch automatic promotion on the last day of the season as they lost 3-1 at Birmingham, but a victory would have seen them promoted after Cardiff failed to win.
But Jokanovic believes his side are over their final day disappointment and can use their 23-game unbeaten run, which was ended at St Andrew's, as inspiration against Derby.
The 49-year-old said of the Birmingham loss: "This game is behind us. We didn't perform well enough but we played the regular season fantastically - we showed many times our ambition, quality and self-belief.
"I see in my team this week the confidence and they're ready for the play-offs."
