Breathe deeply, picture a placid lake and repeat after me – Manchester United have signed a new striker. Take another breath, keep focusing on that lake – he isn’t going to win the Ballon d’Or next year. One more breath, you’re doing great – and that’s okay.
Benjamin Sesko was unveiled at Old Trafford yesterday before United’s last pre-season friendly and the response was rapturous. It wasn’t so long ago that Amorim seemed destined to find out which of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jamie Vardy INEOS could persuade to play for less, so securing one of Europe’s top emerging talents was a shock in all the right ways, and certainly a coup worth celebrating.
The feelgood factor is back at centre-forward – now begins the tricky task of keeping it there.
Paying for potential
How a supposedly broke United have managed to fork out some £200m on new attackers is one for the accountants to figure out, but a simple fact is that at an initial £66.3m Sesko cost more than Viktor Gyokeres (£64m) and Victor Osimhen (roughly £65m).
That the Red Devils overlooked these two established goalscorers in favour of a notoriously raw 22-year-old is a high-risk strategy, but one which comes with a dizzyingly high reward. Well before United swooped in for him Sesko has been trumpeted as having one of the highest ceilings of the current crop of young centre-forwards.
The Slovenia international undoubtedly knows what he’s doing in front of goal, banging in 39 goals in 87 appearances for RB Leipzig after notching 29 in 79 for their Salzburg sister club. But, and it is a sizeable but, he is yet to do it at the highest level, yet to do it consistently and yet to do it under the Man United magnifying glass.
The last time United spent big on striking potential they secured Rasmus Hojlund, whose Old Trafford career looks to be sputtering to an end after never really getting off the ground. His move hasn’t quite ended in tears, but certainly in sniffles.
The same but different
But the comparison with the young striker from Atalanta is far from perfect. Hojlund’s name seemed to appear on United’s radar from nowhere and he arrived with just 10 Serie A goals to his name.
By contrast, the Red Devils have been tracking Sesko for years and have even made a move to sign him in the past. These are reasons to have more faith in the Slovenian but also pile on the expectation, immediately giving him a shorter stock of leeway with fans and pundits than was afforded the Dane he is set to usurp.
And thus we come to the crux of the issue; regardless of what he’s done before, like Hojlund Sesko is taking a huge step up and this has to be borne in mind if, and realistically when, his form hits a hiccup or takes a while to get going.
Reasons to be optimistic
Something else which works in his favour, and therefore against him at the same time, is the team he’s heading into. Despite a historically bad season last time around, under Ruben Amorim United seem to finally be building something decent.
Adding two Premier League-proven attackers to the frontline in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo should mean a steady goal threat and take some of the attacking pressure off the central striker. This won’t cut the mustard for too long, but Hojlund was parachuted into a team reliant on Bruno Fernandes and dealing with a bafflingly off-colour Marcus Rashford.
Not to mention the fact that his competition for a starting berth was a rarely-fit Anthony Martial – Sesko has Joshua Zirkzee and several entirely capable false 9 options to cover him. True, Amorim’s angels haven’t played a competitive match together yet, but the promise and depth are there, making for a burden for Sesko to share rather than shoulder.
Come what may everyone, from Amorim to the Stretford End to Instagram, must have patience with United’s new 6ft 5 monster – treat him right and there’s no reason why he can’t blossom into a formidable frontman, but an early pile-on could send him the same way as the £64m fall guy from Copenhagen.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
