“We struggled without a reference as a striker.” That was Ruben Amorim’s verdict on Manchester United’s final pre-season game against Fiorentina. “We have a new player, so we will see.” The hope is that Benjamin Sesko can make the difference.
The raw potential is obvious. This is a player who stands at 6ft 5in tall but has pace too. He can head the ball and fire off fierce shots from distance. And there is belief that his hold-up play will improve, dropping off too but providing Amorim with his reference.
In short, Sesko appears special. Speaking about him to Matej Orazem, his old sporting director at NK Domzale, he told Sky Sports: “I think he is destined for greatness. It is not just the physicality, it is the technical aspect. He will be successful wherever he goes.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Take a look at the Slovenian striker’s top five goals from his time in the Bundesliga
But the modern United has become, perhaps, the ultimate test of that theory. At £73.7m, taking the summer spending on their new forward trio to over £200m, Ruben Amorim has certainly been backed. That brings pressure to make it work – and quickly.
Amorim has been open about the fact that he is fortunate still to be in the job, reliant on the support of those above him after a miserable run of results that led to United’s worst league finish in over 50 years. The consensus is that the mood has now changed.
Luke Shaw recently admitted that the environment inside the club could be “extremely negative” and “quite toxic” before going on to claim that it is different now. Unhappy players have moved on. New ones have arrived with a point to prove. A cultural reset.
Time on the training ground has helped too and the absence of European football means that there will be more of that throughout the campaign. Amorim will have the opportunity to demonstrate why he was regarded as a top young coach in the first place.
Sunday 17th August 4:00pm
Kick off 4:30pm
The summer spending raises expectations, however. United are already fifth favourites for the title. Fail to secure European qualification and they will be out of Europe for back-to-back seasons for the first time since the ban on English clubs was lifted.
The challenge is that Sesko is not the finished article. For now, at least, United are not in that market. And their opening Premier League game of the season offers an intriguing contrast. Opponents Arsenal tracked Sesko for a long time, a move seeming imminent.
In the end, they opted for Viktor Gyokeres. The Sweden international has plundered well over 100 goals for club and country over the past two seasons at Sporting – more than Sesko has yet managed in his career. But he is 27. A signing for the here and the now.
Maybe that reflects Arsenal’s sense of urgency, a side that has been so close to major silverware in recent seasons, one that is seeking the final piece of their own puzzle. United are earlier in the process, betting on Sesko to develop into the superior player.
His goal output might not be as immediately impressive as that of Gyokeres, but his 39 goals for RB Leipzig in all competitions over the past two seasons means that he has scored more than anyone else aged under 23 in Europe’s five major leagues in that time.
It puts him top of an illustrious list, although the presence of another name a little further down it is a reminder that, as former United coach Rene Meulensteen puts it, they are doing “basically exactly what they did with Rasmus Hojlund” with this signing.
That is to say, United are spending big hoping to develop their own elite forward. Hojlund scored nine for Atalanta in Serie A prior to his arrival. Joshua Zirkzee managed 11 for Bologna before signing the following summer. For Sesko, it was 13 at Leipzig.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports’ Michael Bridge analyses how Sesko compares to Rasmus Hojlund
That might temper the expectations a little. But speak to others and they will tell you that Sesko has better instincts. He is a player capable of finding space in the penalty box, someone who can get his shots away unusually quickly for a player of his size.
He is not yet Alexander Isak and that is reflected in the price tag. But Isak was 22 years old, as Sesko is now, when he arrived in the Premier League after a season in which he scored six times in 32 games for Real Sociedad in LaLiga. That is the trajectory to target.
Sesko’s shot map over the past two seasons in the Bundesliga
Making it happen is the difficult part and it is now Amorim’s job to help Sesko succeed where so many in a United shirt have struggled in recent years and fulfil his potential. Flanked by Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, there is at least creativity around him.
Mbeumo and Cunha are strong ball carriers who draw others towards them, creating space. “It is going to be special,” said Amorim of his two new wide forwards after the Fiorentina game. “I think that they are maybe at 50, 60 per cent of what they can do.”
Another word of caution, though. There is some risk that the opposite is true. There were only three players in the Premier League who outperformed their expected goals by six or more last season. One was Chris Wood. The other two were Mbeumo and Cunha.
Of the 10 previous players to have done that over the past eight years, only Heung-Min Son has scored more goals in the following season – and he dipped dramatically the year after. The vast majority of players have seen their goal output regress to the mean.
One of the reasons cited for Liverpool’s signing of Hugo Ekitike is that he actually underperformed his expected goals – they recognised the potential for his numbers to explode. United appear to have gone the opposite route, trying to sign elite finishers.
Sesko could fall into that category having scored 27 Bundesliga goals over the past two seasons from chances with an expected-goals value of just 17.6. Could he be another Son, another Harry Kane, who consistently finishes better than the metrics suggest?
If so, it could define United’s season and with it Amorim’s reign. There are other factors, of course. The balance in midfield is a concern and the wing-backs will be key. But it is this new forward line that will probably dictate how the rebuild is perceived.
Mbeumo and Cunha have Premier League pedigree which will buy them some time. Rather unfairly, the referendum on young Sesko may come sooner than that. A swift impact against Arsenal, with Gyokeres among the opposition, would be most helpful.
Watch Man Utd vs Arsenal live on Sky Sports Premier League this Sunday from 4pm; kick-off 4.30pm
Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games from this season
From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games this season will be on Sky Sports.
