Manchester United closed out September with a 3-1 defeat at Brentford, with Igor Thiago’s early brace and Mathias Jensen’s stoppage-time goal seeing the Bees do the double over United in 2025. It was a dismal result for the Red Devils, but one player who managed to escape London with his head held high was Benjamin Sesko. After seeing his header and volley attempt saved by Caoimhin Kelleher, the third time proved the charm for Sesko as he soaked up the rebound and smashed in a goal to halve Brentford’s
deficit in the 26th minute. In doing so, Sesko not only opened his account in English football, but he also prevented countless Twitter users from Photoshopping his face onto a James Bond costume with 007 (0 goals, 0 assists, 7 appearances) in the background.
The Red Devils returned to winning ways in the following match, defeating a Sunderland side that had avoided defeat in their last four matches and that had emerged as one of the breakout sensations of the Premier League season’s opening weeks. It was a much-needed confidence boost for a United side that was falling by the wayside under Ruben Amorim, and it was yet another suggestion that Sesko could end up being one of United’s best signings in recent memory.
Similar to many others like Hakim Ziyech, Ben Harburg, and Joshua Kimmich, Sesko got hooked on football from an early age and started bouncing around from one club to another before eventually deciding to depart his native Slovenia in 2019 and joining the Red Bull system. He scored 29 goals and 11 assists in 79 appearances, prompting RB Leipzig to bring him over to Germany, where he built on his promising displays with 39 goals and 8 assists in 87 appearances. Pretty soon, it became evident that is was a matter of when, not if, he ended up following in the footsteps of Dani Olmo, Timo Werner, and Christopher Nkunku as the next Leipzig attacker to earn a move to one of Europe’s top clubs.
Despite a disappointing season at the team level, with Leipzig failing to qualify for Europe for the first time in their Bundesliga history, Sesko did enough to earn interest from Premier League heavyweights like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United. And whilst they failed to qualify for Europe, much less the UEFA Champions League like the aforementioned two clubs, United were able to snag him for €85m. After coming off the bench in his first few league fixtures, Sesko was ushered into the starting line-up in September for their matches vs. Manchester City, Chelsea, Brentford, and Sunderland. And it was arguably his last performance, which was his most convincing display since making the move from Leipzig.
Sesko wreaked havoc up top, utilizing his physical strength and aerial prowess to hold up the ball amid pressure and get on the end of long balls. Constantly looking to link up play and hit on the counter, Sesko proved effective with his relentless runs in behind the backline, his ability to ride the contact and win fouls, and his quick decision-making. Whether hassling his opponents for the ball, or quickly dishing it off for Bryan Mbuemo and Mason Mount, or doubling the lead before halftime in a 2-0 win, Sesko proved why he should be the club’s starting center forward. And at just 22 years old, he’s only going to get better from here on out.
