Why United opted for “extraordinary” ace over Arsenal superstar in the summer now revealed – report

Manchester United took the bold call to bring in yet another young striker in the form of Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig in the summer. The club’s previous such endeavour did not end well with Rasmus Hojlund, then only 20, struggling big time in the Premier League and eventually departing on loan to Napoli this past summer. The Slovenian has scored twice while providing one assist but he stills needs time to adapt, and Ruben Amorim currently does not have the luxury of time. The 22-year-old is injured, and with no other senior striker in the club’s ranks, the head coach will need to get creative to find a solution. Why Benjamin Sesko over Gyokeres It is well known that Amorim wanted a readymade option in the form of Viktor Gyokeres, his Sporting CP protege, but INEOS overruled him in favour of Benjamin Sesko. As per The Times, the new data-driven approach led to the Slovenian international’s arrival. Stats showed that Sesko is far more suited to Amorim’s methods due to the frequency of off-the-ball runs. Not to mention his desire to come to Old Trafford. Gyokeres has six goals to his name for Arsenal but he is 27 and earns higher wages. The Swede was also desperate to play in the Champions League and ended up rejecting his former manager. “There is no concern about Sesko even though he has scored twice since his £74 million transfer from RB Leipzig. United are satisfied with his movement off the ball and he is so determined to make his mark that he is often at Carrington at 8.30am, far earlier than his colleagues. Fans must keep the faith “United relied on data to make their summer signings — they chose Sesko over Viktor Gyokeres because he runs more off the ball — and there has been a big push in that department, led by the summer recruit Mike Sansoni who joined the club as director of data after spending 11 years with the Mercedes Formula 1 team. “Sansoni, who works closely with Wilcox, is overseeing United’s push to become a “fully data-driven club which will lead to success on and off the pitch” and has access to huge data models capable of listing the data of tens of thousands of players. United believe they are in the top four clubs in terms of access to data. “Mbeumo, Cunha and Sesko ticked another box unrelated to data. They wanted to play for the club, which is why they turned down bigger-money offers from Newcastle United.” He is a long-term project, and there are positive signs. Now, once he does return from injury, Benjamin Sesko must start doing his talking on the pitch. There have been encouraging signs but United need more from their starting striker. Feature image Matt McNulty via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25