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News
- 25 minutes ago
Arsenal dodge $90 million bullet thanks to Man Utd's pursuit of Sesko
Analysis
Did Arsenal dodge a bullet by missing out on Benjamin Sesko?
Man Utd signed the RB Leipzig striker in early August 2025 after a short but intense transfer battle with Newcastle. Despite the offer of Champions League football with the Magpies, Sesko chose United because of the size of the club.
However for the majority of the previous 18 months, the club everyone expected Sesko to join was Arsenal, as it was known Mikel Arteta wanted to sign the Slovenian before Andrea Berta insisted on Viktor Gyokeres. Arteta would have been annoyed, but now it seems like the Gunners may have dodged a bullet!
Sesko's performance against Grimsby in the Carabao Cup was absolutely terrible. It was the kind of non-football that you'd expect a 38 year-old veteran on his last legs to make, not a 22 year-old striker making his first start against a team three divisions below him.
The level of Sesko's uselessness would have shocked many United fans, but not if they were a listener of The Transfers Podcast.
Duncan Castles on Benjamin Sesko
On an episode of The Transfers Podcast from August 1st, before the move was complete, transfer expert Duncan Castles revealed that he spoke to a Sporting Director who gave a sobering assessment of Sesko.
"He does not have the mentality to be an elite striker," said this executive. Castles continued: "He doesn't have the drive that the real elite forwards have, like Haaland."
And while it's still very early to judge Sesko completely, so far he does appear to fit the profile of a striker without that real killer instinct.
His last minute miss against Grimsby, skying a shot from 5 yards out, was awful. Admittedly this was Matthijs De Ligt's fault for throwing himself into the scene, forcing Sesko to take the shot off-balance instead of steady.
But the real sign of Sesko's lack of killer instinct was that he waited until 10th to take his penalty in the shoot-out. To clarify, he let every single one of his outfield team-mates go before him.
STATS
Benjamin Sesko
F (C)
Man Utd
Benjamin Sesko
F (C)
Man Utd
Funny thing is he buried his penalty with ease, but it's the fact that he let everyone go before him. What kind of striker does that?
This is where you have to make the comparison to the striker that Arsenal ended up signing: Viktor Gyokeres.
Viktor Gyokeres: an unrefined killer
The 27 year-old Swedish striker does not play with anywhere near the same level of refinement as Sesko. His touch is heavy, he looks perpetually overweight and runs like he's wearing boots made of lead...
...but Viktor Gyokeres scores goals.
Gyokeres scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting, which is more than Sesko has managed in his entire career (90 goals in 213 games).
STATS
Viktor Gyökeres
F (C)
Arsenal
Viktor Gyökeres
F (C)
Arsenal
Sure, he may not be particularly great against big teams (look at how Man Utd bullied him out of Arsenal's visit to Old Trafford) but what he does is grind smaller teams into a fine powder then blow them away.
And that's kind of exactly what Arsenal needed in a striker. Someone with the relentless hunger and drive to constantly rack up goals.
One need only look at their differing approach to penalties: Sesko let all nine of his fellow outfielders shoot before him in Man Utd's penalty shoot-out against Grimsby. Meanwhile Gyokeres has taken Arsenal's penalties off Bukayo Saka as he seeks to rack up as many goals as he possibly can.
Gyokeres vs Sesko
Gyokeres already has 2 goals in 2 games, and don't be surprised if that number goes up in his next appearance as well.
Meanwhile Sesko is still kind of hoping for a lucky break to go his way so he can score his first goal. And even if he gets that there's no indication he can power his way through to the kind of goal tally that Gyokeres will surely reach.
Current ETV
Viktor Gyökeres
F (C)
Arsenal
Viktor Gyökeres
F (C)
Arsenal
ETV Range
€72M - €87.9M
"It does strike me as a high-risk move," said Castles of Sesko to Man Utd.
"We know that Manchester United is a difficult place for players to develop," he continued, "if there's a question over a player's mentality in those circumstances, it's just gonna serve to increase the risk."
And he's not wrong. Sesko has come into a Man Utd side going through a clear transition under Ruben Amorim, making his situation very ubstable.
There's no question he'd be doing better at Arsenal, in a much more stable environment with more accomplished attacking team-mates.
But he would be much the same as the rest of their players. Good, talented, but a bit soft. Vulnerable to being bullied. A perpetual runner-up kind of guy.
Viktor Gyokeres, meanwhile, is a relentless winner. And his type of mentality is what Arsenal need, the kind of killer mentality that could see them finally get over the line an win the Premier League for the first time in 21 years.
Arsenal will consider Benjamin Sesko to be a bullet well and truly dodged.
Man Utd, meanwhile, are just going to have to keep on taking the hits.
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