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مانشستر يونايتد first set their eyes upon Benjamin Sesko when he was 16 years old, and even had the chance to snap him up for a pittance. They didn’t take it, instead leaving Red Bull Salzburg to sign the Slovenian teenager in the summer of 2019 for just €2.5 million.
In Erik ten Hag’s first summer in charge in 2022, meanwhile, the Red Devils had another look at Sesko, but again balked at the price, which had by then risen to €24m for a player who had only one season of top-flight football under his belt in the Austrian Bundesliga. Instead, Sesko agreed to jump ship to fellow Red Bull franchise RB Leipzig, although he did not make the move until the following year, which is when United signed Rasmus Hojlund for up to £72m.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to miss out on a promising and prolific striker once may be regarded as a misfortune, to miss out twice looks like carelessness. But six years after first failing to sign the player once billed as the next إيرلينج هالاند, United look determined to bring Sesko to Old Trafford at the third time of asking.
The club have organised a secret trip to Germany, led by head of recruitment Christopher Vivell, who brought Sesko to Leipzig when he was the Bundesliga side’s technical director, to try and get the deal done. And in typical United fashion, they are set to pay a huge price for their earlier indecision, with Leipzig expected to demand at least €80m (£69m/$91.5m) for the 22-year-old, who is also being pursued by Newcastle.
Yet despite the big fee and some concern that United could be about to make the same mistake they made with Hojlund by signing a costly ‘project’ in favour of a proven Premier League striker like Ollie Watkins there is a lot of excitement about the striker heading to the red side of Manchester and completing Ruben Amorim’s new-look attack…
Manchester United first set their eyes upon Benjamin Sesko when he was 16 years old, and even had the chance to snap him up for a pittance. They didn’t take it, instead leaving Red Bull Salzburg to sign the Slovenian teenager in the summer of 2019 for just €2.5 million.
In Erik ten Hag’s first summer in charge in 2022, meanwhile, the Red Devils had another look at Sesko, but again balked at the price, which had by then risen to €24m for a player who had only one season of top-flight football under his belt in the Austrian Bundesliga. Instead, Sesko agreed to jump ship to fellow Red Bull franchise RB Leipzig, although he did not make the move until the following year, which is when United signed Rasmus Hojlund for up to £72m.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to miss out on a promising and prolific striker once may be regarded as a misfortune, to miss out twice looks like carelessness. But six years after first failing to sign the player once billed as the next Erling Haaland, United look determined to bring Sesko to Old Trafford at the third time of asking.
The club have organised a secret trip to Germany, led by head of recruitment Christopher Vivell, who brought Sesko to Leipzig when he was the Bundesliga side’s technical director, to try and get the deal done. And in typical United fashion, they are set to pay a huge price for their earlier indecision, with Leipzig expected to demand at least €80m (£69m/$91.5m) for the 22-year-old, who is also being pursued by Newcastle.
Yet despite the big fee and some concern that United could be about to make the same mistake they made with Hojlund by signing a costly ‘project’ in favour of a proven Premier League striker like Ollie Watkins, there is a lot of excitement about the striker heading to the red side of Manchester and completing Ruben Amorim’s new-look attack…
Sesko received his early football education in his hometown of Radece and began making waves in Slovenian football when he was barely a teenager, as he scored a stunning 59 goals in 23 matches for second division outfit Krsko’s Under-15s side in the 2017-18 season. He subsequently joined two-time national champions NK Domzale, but far bigger clubs came calling just a year later as Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund all expressed their interest. So too did United, who tabled a bid of £1m for the then-16-year-old.
But it was Salzburg, who a year earlier had snapped up another precociously talented and physically imposing striker in Haaland, who appealed the most to Sesko and his representatives.
“The biggest clubs in Europe tried to get him. The interest in him was huge; I have never seen anything like it before,” said Sesko’s agent Elvis Basanovic at the time. “We had a lot of offers from really big clubs. Had we decided on the money, Benjamin would have moved to England or Italy. But we decided to look at the bigger picture and the Salzburg project.”
Unlike Haaland, however, Sesko was considered too young and raw for the Salzburg first team upon arrival, and while the Norwegian was tearing it up in the top-flight and scoring against the likes of Liverpool in the Champions League, the Slovenian was drafted into Salzburg’s reserve side, FC Liefering, who play in the Austrian second division. Sesko initially struggled to cope with the jump from youth to senior football and scored only one goal in 15 appearances in his first campaign. However, he got to grips with the level soon enough and netted 21 times in his second season.
Sesko became Slovenia’s youngest-ever player when he made his debut in June 2021 against North Macedonia, the day after his 18th birthday, and four months later, he became his country’s youngest-ever scorer when he struck against Malta. That same year he was promoted to Salzburg’s first team for the 2021-22 season, and at the end of the campaign he secured a move to Leipzig, despite only scoring five goals in the Austrian top flight.
He considerably improved on those numbers in his final season at Salzburg, scoring 16 league goals and setting up a further four, and by the time he left Austria for Germany, Sesko had averaged a goal or an assist every two games.
After an underwhelming debut season at Leipzig, Sesko suddenly hit a ruthless vein of form, scoring in all of his side’s final seven league games. He also became the youngest player to score in seven consecutive games in the Bundesliga as his goal glut helped fire Leipzig to a fourth-placed finish in the table and a return to the Champions League.
Sesko’s hot streak increased the hype around him ahead of Euro 2024, although he underwhelmed at the tournament, failing to score in any of Slovenia’s four games while missing two big chances in the last-16 tie against Portugal, which his side eventually lost on penalties.
Back on the domestic front, highlights of his second season at Leipzig included doubles against Juventus and Augsburg as well as a long-range trivela against Bayern Munich. He also provided an assist as Leipzig beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 to end the then Bundesliga champions’ 43-game unbeaten run. The season ended in disappointment, however, as Leipzig finished sixth in the league and failed to qualify for European football for the first time in nine years.
There was some disappointment over Sesko’s season too – he scored 13 league goals compared to 14 strikes in his debut campaign despite starting an extra 13 matches. Nonetheless, there was big expectation that he would make a big-money move in the summer, one year after signing a long-term deal with Leipzig which protected his value.
Arsenal were seen as the main candidates to buy him, but instead opted for Viktor Gyokeres, leaving United and Newcastle to battle for his signature. The Red Devils are believed to have made an early advance by opening talks with Leipzig and the player as they aim to fill out Amorim’s squad ahead of the new campaign.
Sesko is an ideal build for a striker, standing at 6’4 (193cm) and boasting huge physical strength. He also has electric pace, famously clocking the same top speed as Kylian Mbappe when he was breaking through at Salzburg.
His pace and power makes him a formidable force running in between the lines and onto through balls, while Sesko also has impressive dribbling ability for a player of his size. The forward’s ball-striking ability, which has led to him scoring a large number of long-range goals, also stands out.
“He’s extremely quick, has a great jump on him and is strong in the air. Benjamin is a real goal-scorer, who despite his height, is mobile and technically strong,” is how Vivell described Sesko when unveiling him as a new signing for Leipzig. “His abilities make him a special player with a special profile.”
The inconvenient truth is that, for a player of his reputation and price tag, Sesko has not yet proved to be a prolific goal-scorer. He was the ninth-top scorer in the Bundesliga last season, notching five fewer goals than Germany international Jonathan Burkardt, who recently switched from Mainz to Eintracht Frankfurt for only €23m (£20m/$26m).
For all the goals he has scored, Sesko also has a reputation for fluffing big chances in big moments, such as his two wasted opportunities against Portugal at the Euros.
The Slovenian still feels to many top clubs like a potential star, a project rather than the finished article. His large transfer fee and high wage demands, therefore, have made him seem like a risky proposition for teams in ‘win now’ mode. That is how Arsenal reportedly felt about him, with Mikel Arteta’s side preferring to invest in Gyokeres for the 68 goals he plundered for Sporting CP in 66 games last season, albeit at a less competitive level.
Sesko was naturally likened to Haaland when he was beginning to fire at Salzburg, and he welcomed being mentioned in the same breath as the Manchester City goal machine, who is soon to become a sworn enemy on the opposite side of the city’s divide.
“Such comparisons motivate me and give me energy,” he said during his early days in Austria. “They do not represent pressure. I will listen and learn so I can be even better than he is. My team-mates at the club tell me that Haaland and I are very similar, especially in terms of speed. Most of them even tell me that I’m better than him!”
Sesko is an inch taller than Haaland and shares a knack for scoring with both feet and running in behind defences. And if you’re wondering where he got his self-confidence from, then consider which player he grew up idolising.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic was my idol,” he told The Guardian in 2023. “I’m not saying I play like him but he was having fun, enjoying himself on the pitch, doing what he wanted to do. It makes me really happy when I see that kind of player. Every single video I could find, I was looking at him.”
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Sesko’s previous relationship with Vivell gives United the upper hand over Newcastle in negotiations, although the Magpies have two important factors on their side: they can offer him Champions League football and they have more financial muscle than the Red Devils, particularly if they sell Alexander Isak to Liverpool.
If Sesko does end up moving to Old Trafford, then he will be under a lot of pressure to deliver from day one. Fans will be wary of him turning into another Hojlund, who waited four months to score a Premier League goal in his debut campaign and went 22 matches without finding the net last season, during which he scored just four times in the league.
Sesko’s arrival would almost certainly facilitate Hojlund’s departure as the Slovenian will be the team’s first-choice striker, although he may face some competition from Bryan Mbeumo or Matheus Cunha as the main forward if Ruben Amorim opts to play Bruno Fernandes in attack rather than in midfield, having recently admitted that he wants his captain to be closer to the oppotision’s penalty area.
Sesko will have to live with scrutiny like he has never faced before at United, but he will also have the platform he has long craved since he first emerged as a serious talent to watch in his homeland. He will need to be as self-assured as his idols Haaland and Ibrahimovic to ensure he does not meet the same fate as Hojlund, who also joined United for huge money despite a limited track record.
There is a key difference, though, between the situation Hojlund walked into and the one that Sesko will find himself in. The Dane was tasked with livening up a blunt attack and was instantly asked to be the focal point; he was not capable of doing either. Sesko, however, will be just one of three shiny pieces in a brand new attack which will have cost over £200m ($265m) to assemble. The burden of turning United around will be shared between Sesko, Mbeumo and Cunha, and if things go well and United’s fortunes improve, he will get his share of the spoils.
