Before Manchester United completed the signing of Benjamin Sesko in a £73.7 million deal last month, they were heavily linked with Ollie Watkins.
At the time the club were mulling over which striker to add to Ruben Amorim’s ranks for 2025/2026, it was claimed their shortlist had been narrowed down to two options: Sesko and Watkins.
United debated Ollie Watkins coup before signing Benjamin Sesko
Whilst both highly-regarded centre-forwards, the two players posed as entirely different targets given their ages and experience.
Sesko, 22, had only ever plyed his trade in his native Slovenia, Austria and Germany, whilst 29-year-old Watkins worked his way up the English footballing pyramid before settling at Aston Villa when moving from Brentford in 2020.
Contributions-wise, Watkins has recorded 87 goals and 42 assists in 226 appearances for the Midlands outfit, whereas Sesko scored 39 times and contributed a further eight assists in 87 matches representing RB Leipzig.
Pursuing the youngster was undoubtedly more of a risk than going all-out for a Premier League-proven star – and one that Amorim wasn’t willing to take.
Reports at the time suggested the United boss wanted to sign Watkins over Sesko, but Director of Recruitment Christopher Vivell spearheaded the club’s move for the latter due to his previous Red Bull links; Vivell played a key role in bringing Sekso to RB Salzburg back in 2019 and again when he signed for Leipzig three years later.
INEOS honoured Vivell’s wishes and met Leipzig’s demands before tying the player down to a five-year deal.
Nicky Butt: I’d have gone for Ollie Watkins at United
However, former Red Nicky Butt has since questioned whether it was indeed the correct route for United to take when considering their goalscoring woes.
“Honestly, for what it would have cost, I would have gone and brought in someone like Ollie Watkins [instead of Sesko]. Someone to help and pull the young strikers out of a bad patch,” Butt told BetMGM, as cited by the Metro.
“When young players are just coming into the club, when the onus is on them to score goals, if they’re having a few bad games they have to have the safety net of being pulled out of the firing line.
“Ollie Watkins, or someone like that, would be who I would have been looking to bring in.”
