Manchester United: Dimitar Berbatov offers key advice to Benjamin Sesko and Liverpool flop Florian Wirtz

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·28 ottobre 2025

Manchester United: Dimitar Berbatov offers key advice to Benjamin Sesko and Liverpool flop Florian Wirtz

Big-money transfers have so far failed to convince

Dimitar Berbatov has offered advice to Benjamin Sesko and Florian Wirtz as both players try to settle into their new surroundings at Manchester United and Liverpool.

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Sesko and Wirtz were two of the big-money signings made by Premier League clubs in the summer, with both arriving to great fanfare at Old Trafford and Anfield respectively.

However, since the season has started, neither has had the desired impact off the bat that perhaps their price tags would suggest, with Sesko costing United £ 73.7 million, and Liverpool buying Wirtz for £116 million, a British record fee, before they snapped up Alexander Isak for £130m.

Sesko has scored two goals and provided one assist in his first 10 games at United, while Wirtz has played 13 matches, without scoring, and added three assists.

It has led to both clubs’ managers, Ruben Amorim and Arne Slot, rotating the two in and out of their starting XIs.

Benjamin Sesko has scored two goals in nine Premier League games

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Berbatov - who also made the move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League at an early age - encourages full integration of Sesko as he continues to settle in the north west.

“Know your team-mates,” Berbatov said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“Speak with them. If you see that it’s not working out quick enough or soon enough as you like, speak with them. On the pitch, because he’s a big, strong lad, he can run, he can cover the space, he can hold the ball. The goals that I saw him score in his previous club were unbelievable. Left, right, shooting. So I think he has the quality.

“I am cautiously optimistic. I don’t want to jump up and down because [Rasmus] Hojlund was the same, right? Everybody was optimistic, but it didn’t quite work for him.”

The Bulgarian, who himself played 149 times for United, said that Sesko needed to show a nastier side to him.

“Be confident in yourself,” he continued.

“Be arrogant in a way that you demand the ball from your team-mates when you make the run. And when you make a good run, if the ball doesn't come for you, say it or express it in a way that your teammates will understand that, ‘I am here. I’m making the run for you. Respect my run. Not every time but try to see me and believe in what I can do with that run.’

Be angry with your team-mates. Not always polite and best friends and buddies. Be more angry. Demand more from each otherDimitar Berbatov

“Sometimes be angry. Scream, swear at him, whatever. [It’s] not personal. Just in a way that I’m here, man. That’s why I’m here. Just give me the ball. Pass to me. I will try to score for you. Half-time, before and after the game, speak. Sometimes I think the players need to be more aggressive and emotional, in a way like, “Pass me the damn ball, man!”

“Be angry with your team-mates. Not always polite and best friends and buddies. Be more angry. Demand more from each other. Whoever is in the position of being the captain, be the one to demand more from yourself and from them.

“In the end, it comes down to the goals for the strikers. If they don’t score enough goals, people will be on them. If you’re someone who can stay in the box, then train on that. Be in the box. Training session after training session on the empty goal. Someone to give you the ball, just do tap-ins. Get into the habit of scoring that easy goal as well.”

As for Wirtz, Berbatov, the former Tottenham and Bayer Leverkusen striker, “guarantees” that the German will become a success at Liverpool, drawing parallels between himself and the Reds playmaker.

“I love him,” Berbatov said of the attacking midfielder. “He’s a fantastic player. He will be unbelievable, trust me.

“In my case, I was again having doubts. The same process was happening when I went to Leverkusen. The same thing. Because in Leverkusen, in the beginning, it didn’t work out quite well. I needed to be patient.

Florian Wirtz has already lost his place in the Liverpool team

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“But again, doubts. [Then at] Spurs, again, new environment, again, new people, new language, new everything. Again, things were taking [a long time] to happen for me.

I was thinking, ‘Maybe I need to go back,’. That negative thinking that people have most of the time is horrendous.

“[The] other me was saying, “No, no, no. You see what happened in Leverkusen. Just be patient. Keep working. You have the quality. You deserve to be here. You wanted something to change. Now you’re here. Now be stubborn. Be patient. Keep working. Not sitting. It’s not going to fall like this on your lap. Work. Smart or hard. Try to know when, which when, and work. It will happen.

“So I was motivating myself. At the same time, I tried to sabotage myself. You want to go to your safe place, your safe environment, but you need to have that motivation and that ambition in you as well to overcome the fear. So my ambition was bigger than my fear.”

Berbatov, who played 154 games for Leverkusen, scoring 69 goals, said that Wirtz needed to be “patient”.

“I’m sure that everybody sees his quality, and they’ll give him that time that he needs to fit into the team. I guarantee you, he’s going to be a success.

“The way he sees football, how he looks for the space, how he knows how to position himself, the touches on the ball, the improvisation, the eye for the pass and for the goals. Of course, someone can argue that his physique is not that great for the Premier League.

“But then you can easily see the great players of his position, like [Luka] Modric, also the same build. Modric. F****** monster. It’s unbelievable. So give him time. I think he’s going to be unbelievable for Liverpool.”