David Tully Sep 26th 2025
Paul Merson believes Man United “should have” targeted Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez, rather than Benjamin Sesko, during the summer transfer window.
Alvarez left Manchester City for £82m last year, and had a strong first season in Spain, scoring 29 goals in all competitions, and Merson says he would have been a much better fit for United’s front three:
“Manchester United are not playing the kind of football that suits him. Bryan Mbeumo wants to score goals, and Matheus Cunha likes to dribble.”
“I don’t expect either of them to drift wide and swing in crosses for Šeško. I honestly don’t know where Sesko will get his first goal from at the moment and it’s a massive worry for United.”
“They should have gone for a striker like Julian Alvarez, that type of player would have worked well with Mbeumo and Cunha.”
Alvarez was not for sale
Following his excellent first season with Atletico, there was never any realistic chance of the La Liga side selling their main No.9.
You also have to question whether Alvarez would have been interested in moving to Old Trafford anyway, considering the absence of European football.
Sesko has time on his side to come good for United
Merson is painting the Slovenian as some sort of target man with limited ability. There is much more to his game than that. For a man of his size, he does possess plenty of speed.
One of Sesko’s former coaches has even said that he has the potential to be as good as Erling Haaland. It remains to be seen whether that will happen, but some patience is required.
The 22-year-old has made six appearances and played just 295 minutes since signing from RB Leipzig. Once he has settled into life in the Premier League, we should see the best of him.
Read more about the Manchester United First Team Squad for 2025/26 here
David Tully
David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World’s Football News Network.
