If someone who can perform a slam-dunk as easily as a header up close, it is no surprise that Benjamin Sesko has always reached the stars.
A talented basketball player that colleague Slovenian and NBA star Luka Doncic is idolizing, the 6ft 5ins Sesko aimed his sights on taking Erling Haaland's no 9 shirt from the moment he came to Red Bull Salzburg in 2019. Next season, Sesko can try to beat the Manchester City ahead to the Premier League Golden Boly.
Manchester United and Newcastle believe that Sesko, who plays for RB Leipzig, can give them something else. United needs a top class no. 9; Newcastle has one, but can be about the Lose Alexander Isak in Liverpool. Sesko will have little margin for about £ 75 million.
Although he is still only 22, Sesko has been on the radar of the top clubs of the Premier League for at least four years. Salzburg indeed had some fun on social media at the expense of United in 2022 about learning their interest in Sesko, who was then 19. “We now want € 1 billion, Bruno Fernandes and (Mascot) Fred the Red for Sesko,” They wrote that summer.
Oliver Durr Dehnhardt, head of the football strategy on Scouting Platform Eyeball, has followed Sesko since he played in his home country in the youth ranks in NK Domzale. Dehnhardt believes that Sesko has the raw material to succeed in the Premier League, but must add refinement to his clear gifts.
“Sesko has the potential to become one of the best and most complete strikers in the game,” Dehnhardt tells Mail Sport. “He is long, physically dominant and excellent in the air. For his size, he shows great gear and an impressive top speed. He can end up with both feet.
'That makes him a valuable possession for teams who attack in transition – similar to Haaland when he was in Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.
'Although he has a decent technical package, I believe he should improve his link-up game. To reach the next level, he needs more balance for his game.
'I would be interested in seeing how he would adapt to playing in a property team, where space is tighter. He must learn to work on the front line and find space in different bags. I think it looks free to the transition that Haaland had to make when he moved from Dortmund to Manchester City. '
Although he only becomes 23 in May, there are few doubts about Sesko's ability to change land. He has already done this twice in his short career and will be helped by his excellent level of English.
“If he is well developed, he can become one of the best strikers in the world for the next decade, if not the best,” adds Markus Fjortoft, a sports consultant and host of the Fussball Channel, a Bundesliga show. 'He is natural objectives, physical and athletic, but with a lot of room for improvement.
“He is not the completed article and still has to work on his finish and decision -making.”
Coaches who despair the amount of time that modern players spend on their devices would find Sesko refreshing. In the hours before competitions, Sesko switches off his phone because he believes that excessive screen time makes him tired. He would rather read books instead – actually instead of fiction.
A sparkling character who carries his heart on his sleeve, Sesko is a popular member of the Leipzig team and his wild table tennis duels with Xavi Simons are the stuff of changing room legend.
In his apartment, Sesko burns scented candles to try to help him relax, although this cannot always extinguish his emotional line.
He cried on the field towards the end of the Slovenia match against Kazakhstan in November 2023, who sealed their place on Euro 2024, and is clashed with club officials.
“My most difficult moment came when I played in Salzburg,” Sesko recalled last season. I should have been the first-choice striker there, and I expressed my opinion about something that was not going well. I was of course young.
“Then I suddenly looked from the stands. I had to fight my way back to even be in the team and then get to the first XI. You could say that it was the worst moment, but it made me much more difficult and taught me how to act in such situations. It was a good lesson. '
Sesko's Pad – Red Bull Salzburg to the Bundesliga – has made comparisons with Haaland, but he has a way to be as productive as the Norwegian.
He scored 13 times in 33 league games in the past term, 14 in 31 the year before. But while Haaland sometimes struggles together with another attacker, Sesko has impressively successively with the Belgian star Lois Openda in Leipzig.
The ultra-physical, ultra-athletic Premier League will certainly be a test of Sesko's strength and endurance. “He is strong, good in the air and has an impressive eye for the goal, but he can be missing in games,” says Bundesliga expert Mark Meadows in Berlin. 'That was certainly a factor that Leipzig did not qualify for Europe for the first time as a Bundesliga club.
“Although he has the reputation to have a short wick, his only yellow cards came in the same game this season, when they lost 2-1 in Stuttgart in January.” After collecting a competition-high six red cards in 2024-25, his freeers will certainly hope that they can learn Sesko, those Sweden Great Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to stay calm on the field.
“He is still my favorite player,” Sesko said. “The magic he could do was to his size incredible to look. I also like his character – although it is not the same as mine. '
The Sesko preferred number is 30, which he has worn since his Salzburg days.
Sesko is as famous online for his celebration as for his goal – a jump for joy that would certainly impress his idol Doncic. “People can see how high I can jump,” Sesko admits. 'Sometimes it is higher or lower, depending on how much I have walked earlier or if I am tired or not, but I can jump very high. It feels great. Fans of United and Newcastle hope that Sesko is the most important thing to put the bar.