Super Sesko’s first Man United season gives thrilling glimpse of future | OneFootball

From the undignified melee of last summer’s transfer scramble for a centre-forward, Manchester United emerged with Benjamin Sesko and the fluttering heart of a risk taken.

In the end the media, if not the clubs involved, gobbled up the narrative of a straight race between Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres, the Sporting goalscoring freak who ultimately joined Arsenal.

Gyokeres will finish the season with a Premier League title and more than 20 goals, but United should have no regrets over shelling out £65m on the rangy Slovenian instead.

Excellent first season

Erling Haaland undoubtedly skewed the metric for success of young strikers moving from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, but by any reasonable measure Sesko has had an excellent debut season.

His campaign was abruptly ended by an injury picked up in the thrilling 3-2 win over Liverpool, during which he scored his 11th league goal of an inconsistent, unpredictable first term at United.

Given that Sesko didn’t get off the mark until his sixth game for the club, that he was fresh to the English top-flight and still just 22, reaching double figures is in itself a fine achievement.

Upward trajectory

More impressive, however, is that in the Premier League he averaged one goal every 149 minutes, having been used as a substitute 13 times.

Unexpectedly, this is an improvement on his final season at RB Leipzig, where his 13 league goals worked out as one every 184 minutes. It’s harder than you might think to downplay the impact of a player who in some areas has been criticised as barely an upgrade on Rasmus Hojlund.

That Sesko is already taking steps forward in his still comparatively short career is deeply exciting for his future in United red.

Growth required

The 22-year-old was brought to Old Trafford as a long-term figurehead for a reinvented attack, and the idea is undoubtedly for him to feature as an undisputed starter.

At times this season he settled very comfortably into the role of supersub, winning crucial points off the bench – his injury time winner against Fulham was followed by a last-gasp equaliser at West Ham and a match-winning strike against Everton.

That is clearly not a sustainable position for a £65m man tipped to be one of the best young forwards in world football, but is a very strong start to his United career from which to build.

In a rare vindication of United’s transfer strategy, all three of last summer’s attacking arrivals have scored ten or more goals. Having a goal threat across the front line is valuable, but an effective centre-forward is priceless.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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