Manchester United has defeated Newcastle's competition to sign Benjamin Sesko of RB Leipzig after being trusted by the expertise and relationships of one of their staff
Benjamin Sesko has made the leap from RB Leipzig to Manchester United in a transmission of £ 74 million – and there will be one known face in Old Trafford.
Sesko has split off a move to Newcastle for member of United, who has paid £ 66.4 million in advance plus another £ 7.6 million in potential add-ons. The 22-year-old striker will inform Ruben Amorim in the latest front line, in addition to colleague new signing sessions Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
United's press release, in which the conquest of Sesko is announced, makes clear how happy they are to land the Slovenia International in what they consider a coup, given their lack of European football this season.
“The wish that all our new signing sessions have shown to join the club this summer on the basis of the attraction and status of Manchester United,” said director of Voetbal Jason Wilcox.
That may be true, but Wilcox also owes one of his colleagues after landing Sesko from Newcastle's nose. Christopher Vivell was of great importance to get the deal over the line, largely thanks to his connections with Sesko and his agent Elvis Basanovic.
Vivell only came to United last summer, initially as an interim director of recruitment, but by February he had permanently secured the role. Omar Berrada, who came to the Manchester City club last summer to become Chief Executive, had insisted on the arrival of Vivell, after good with him in their previous roles.
The 38-year-old German left Chelsea under a cloud in July 2023, only seven months after arrival as technical director. But Berrada and United were not Fazed and brought him in. They now see the fruits of that decision.
Vivell has a good reputation in Germany, where he started at Hoffenheim before he came to the Red Bull Group. That is where he met Sesko and initially signed him for Red Bull Salzburg before he brought him to Sister Club Leipzig in 2023.
Sesko scored 39 goals in 87 games for Leipzig and attracted a lot of attention from the Premier League, including Van Arsenal. And while he cited the history of United and the project by Ruben Amorim as the reasons for members, he was also encouraged by the presence of Vivell, after he had only had good experiences in his previous two movements in which the German was involved.
Sesko is not the only highly appreciated young striker who has picked up Vivell in his time, such as United Well Know. In 2019, United Erling Haaland wanted to sign from Molde, after he had been recommended by the then managed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But they did not succeed in having to chase the Norwegian superstar, which took a succession of larger clubs to join Salzburg because he was tried by Vivell. “The big clubs wanted him too,” he explained later. “But they wanted to do a loan program that neither his father nor Erling wanted. That is why we managed to bring him to us.”
Vivell collaborated with former United manager Ralf Rangnick at Red Bull and also tried to hire Erik ten Hag for Leipzig before leaving Ajax for United. Those connections are incidental compared to those with Sesko, who have helped country who United Hope will be the answer to their goals.