Newcastle United has made an offer worth € 80 million for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko.
The bid consists of € 75 million in advance with a further € 5 million in potential add-ons and was submitted by Newcastle in the last 24 hours.
The athletics reported on July 24 that Newcastle is considering a movement for the 22-year-old in the event that Alexander Isak is leaving the club, where the Swedish striker wanted a transfer this summer.
Newcastle has rejected a formal range of £ 110 million from Liverpool for Isak, but the Premier League champions retain a strong interest in the 25-year-old.
Manchester United is also interested in Sesko and the Slovenia striker still has to make a fixed decision about his preferred destination.
Sesko was followed by Arsenal before the North -London side chose to pursue a move to Isak's countryman Viktor Gyokeres, who they signed last month in a deal of € 63.5 million (£ 54.8 million; $ 74.2 million) plus € 10m.
Chelsea had also admired Sesko for several years, although they moved to Liam Delap and Joao Pedro earlier this summer to sign Liam Delap and Joao Pedro.
The Leipzig Deal of Sesko runs until 2029, after he had signed a new contract last year, which was expected to contain a men's agreement that would enable him to leave for the right project. His previous deal contained a release clause of € 65 million.
The Slovenia International came to Leipzig from Red Bull Salzburg in 2023, with both clubs owned by the Red Bull GmbH congestion. He has made 87 performances for Leipzig, scored 39 goals and offers eight assists.
He made his senior Slovenia debut the day after his 18th birthday and scored 16 goals in 41 games, which represents his nation at the European Championship 2024.
Liverpool had previously communicated their interest in a deal for Isak in the £ 120 million ($ 162 million) region, although the Newcastle's position had been that the Swede was not for sale. Isak did not play in a friendly against Celtic or joined the team's pre-season tour by Asia, where the club stated that this had to do with a small thigh problem, but sources spoke anonymously because they were not competent to do this publicly, indicates the forward favorable preference with his future.
Isak currently only trains in his former club Real Sociedad.
How did Sesko do it in 2024-25?
Analysis by the German football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor
Fairly good, but it was not the season he had to produce to alleviate the doubts.
Although his general level of performance improved in a broader sense, with Sesko more connected to the rest of the Leipzig side, his figures for goals were down. He scored a less Bundesliga target (13) in 2024-25 than the year before, despite playing almost 900 minutes extra. He was never able to replicate that seven-game streak of the previous year, which means that it felt overwhelming, despite some striking goals (especially against Bayern Munich in the Red Bull Arena).
But Leipzig had a bad season. They plundered Marco Rose in March, led their lowest finish since they were promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016 and won only one match of their eight Champions League matches.
That is valuable context. Nevertheless, consistency was still a problem for Sesko and the gap between his best versions and his worst, which is a historical criticism, remains too broad.
(Photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)