Manchester United face Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday with Benjamin Sesko having joined to be the club’s new centre-forward – with the £74m Slovenian international having been a top target for the Gunners over the past 12 months
When Manchester United host Arsenal on Sunday, Benjamin Sesko might well be wondering about what might have been. The £74million striker could make his debut for the Red Devils – but had things been different, he could well have been lining up for Mikel Arteta’s title hopefuls.
Sesko eventually moved to the Premier League earlier this month from RB Leipzig, becoming the third expensive forward signed by the Red Devils this summer, after £62.5m Matheus Cunha and £71m Bryan Mbeumo. It is that attack on which Ruben Amorim is pinning United’s hopes of a much-improved campaign.
But at the start of summer, the 22-year-old was No.1 on Arsenal’s list of striker targets. However, the Gunners eventually pulled out of a move, baulking at the total cost it would have taken to get him to north London, when taking into account the player’s transfer fee, salary and agents’ costs. Eventually they settled on a player Amorim knows extremely well, and who had been heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford, Viktor Gyokeres.
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“Viktor is in a different league,” came Amorim’s reply when asked about the Swede – who scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting Lisbon before his £64m move to the Emirates – at his pre-match press conference on Friday. “Sporting have good scouting because they live from the players they can buy and sell to survive.
“I think he’s a very good player. It’s not a surprise to see him with a big club in England.”
Whether they want to be or not, this summer’s transfer window and the presence of Amorim as head coach at United means Sesko and Gyokeres will be inextricably linked throughout their time in the Premier League. In the months and potentially years to come, fans and pundits alike will almost certainly question who the winners and losers were in their respective deals:
- Was Arsenal’s decision to not sign Sesko and push for Gyokeres right?
- Should United have signed the player their manager knows so well, rather than paying more on potential?
For his part, Amorim isn’t worried about his new No.30. The truth is United’s scouting staff moved on Sesko – there have been claims that Gyokeres was left disappointed his former boss never came calling – because they see a player with a higher overall ceiling. And that’s something which Amorim has, within a week, already been impressed by.
“I think he has great potential in everything he does,” said Amorim. “He can play different types of football. He’s going to feel that the Premier League is really aggressive, he’s going to learn, but he has a great potential and I can see Ben being a striker for Manchester United for a lot of years.
“That’s why we paid so much money – to have a striker that will have his history in our club. The guy is always thinking about football. He’s really obsessed by that and that is a good thing because you don’t have to think about that aspect with that young guy.”
That attitude however has left Amorim with a minor problem. Having grown frustrated by both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho since his arrival in England – ultimately jettisoning both within eight months of their first fallout provided the Argentine joins Chelsea before the month ends – Amorim wants Sesko to enjoy his business more.
“I don’t need to tell Ben, ‘this is Manchester United, a lot of pressure, you have to perform, you need to be ready for the physicality, we need to be ready for every game, it’s like do-or-die’. With that guy, I have not that concern. I have the opposite, [he needs to] enjoy [himself] a little bit!
“He’s listening, and he wants to perform, so that is really good.”
Unlike most that have crossed his path since arriving in Manchester, pushing Sesko to enjoy himself while trying to reach his seemingly universally-agreed-upon potential is a nice problem for Amorim to have.
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