Why does Manchester United spend £74 million on the new No. 9 Sesco? That s the answer

When Manchester United first followed Benjamin Cesco, he was only 16 years old, and even had the opportunity to sign him at a very low cost. But Manchester United did not take action, instead allowing Red Bull to win the Slovenian teenager for 2.5 million euros in the summer of 2019.

In 2022, Eric Tenhager's first summer window coaching Manchester United, the Red Devils once again turned their attention to Cesco, but hesitated because of the price - at that time, the player who had only played in the top league in Austria had his net worth to 24 million euros. In the end, Sesco agreed to join RB Leipzig (official transfer the following year), while Manchester United signed Rasmus Hoylund for up to £72 million.

To apply Oscar Wilde's sentence: Missing a high-yield shooter with unlimited potential once can be regarded as an unfortunate; missing twice can inevitably seem hasty. But six years after missing out on the once-called "Next Haaland" player for the first time, Manchester United made a third move and finally finalized the deal for Cesco to join Old Trafford.

Manchester United recruitment director Christopher Viver was once the technical director of Leipzig, and it was him who brought Sesco to the Bundesliga. This time, he led the team to Germany to promote the transaction. Due to previous hesitation, Manchester United now has to pay a high price: Leipzig has accepted an initial offer of £66.5 million (about $89 million) and £7.5 million (about $10 million, easy to achieve), and 22-year-old Sesco was previously chased by Newcastle.

Although the transfer fee is expensive and some people are worried that Manchester United may repeat the mistake of Hoylund - signing a high-priced "potential stock" rather than Oli Watkins, who has proved himself in the Premier League, the outside world is still full of expectations for the striker who is about to join Manchester United. He will improve the new striker created by Ruben Amorin...

Cesco's football enlightenment began in his hometown of Radece, and he made his mark in Slovenian football as a teenager. In the 2017-18 season, he scored 59 goals in 23 second-tier league games for Kelsco U15. He then joined the two-time national champion Domzale, but just a year later, invitations from more wealthy clubs came one after another: Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Juventus, and Dortmund all expressed their interest, and Manchester United also offered a £1 million offer for him, who was 16 years old at the time.

But in the end, Salzburg, which just signed the talented and strong Haaland a year ago, attracted Sesco and his agent the most.

"The top clubs in Europe want to sign him, and I have never seen him paying attention before," said Sesco's agent Elvis Basanovich at the time. "We have received many quotes from wealthy families. If we only look at the money, Benjamin could have gone to England or Italy. But we value the long-term more, and Salzburg's training plan is more suitable."

However, unlike Haaland, when Cesco joined, he was too young and had a rough skill, so he could not directly enter the Salzburg first team. When the Norwegian scored a goal in the top league and even scored in the Champions League against Liverpool, the Slovenian was arranged to Salzburg's second team Furling (for the Austrian second division). In his first season, he struggled in the transition from youth to adult team, with only 1 goal in 15 appearances; but he quickly adapted to the pace and scored 21 goals in the second season.

In June 2021, Sesco, who had just celebrated his 18th birthday, completed his debut in the Slovenian national team (versus North Macedonia), becoming the country's youngest international; four months later, he became the youngest goal scorer (versus Malta). In the same year, he was promoted to the Salzburg first-team to compete in the 2021-22 season. Although he only scored 5 goals in the Olympic Super League, he was determined to join Leipzig at the end of the season.

In his last season in Salzburg, his data improved significantly: 16 goals and 4 assists in the Olympic Super League, and he averaged 1 goal (goal or assist) per game when he left the team.

's performance in Leipzig was mediocre, but then he suddenly broke out - he scored consecutively in the last seven rounds of the league, becoming the youngest player in Bundesliga history, helping the team to win fourth place and return to the Champions League.

Before the 2024 European Cup, Cesco's hot state made the outside world expect soar, but his performance in the game was sluggish: Slovenia failed to win four games, and he missed two excellent opportunities against Portugal in the round of 16, and the team was eventually eliminated.

Back to the club, his season 2 highlights include a brace against Juventus and Augsburg, and a super-far-out instep goal against Bayern Munich. He also assisted Leipzig to beat Leverkusen 3-2, ending the record of the Bundesliga championship unbeaten in 43 games. But the season ending was disappointing: Leipzig ranked sixth and missed the European Cup for the first time in nine years.

Cesco's season performance is also controversial: despite 13 more starts, the league goals have dropped from 14 to 13. For top clubs, he is still more like a "potential star" than a "finished product". The high transfer fees and salary requirements have discouraged the teams that are determined to "combat" - this is said to be true for Arsenal. Arteta's team is more inclined to invest in Victor Gucres, who has 66 goals in 66 games in Portugal Sports, although the latter is less competitive in the league. When Cesco made his mark in Salzburg, he was naturally compared with Haaland, and he was happy to compare with this Manchester City "goal machine" (will be a Manchester City Derby opponent in the future).

"This comparison motivates me and motivates me," he said in his early days in Austria. "It's not pressure. I will listen and learn, and strive to be better than him. My teammates said I'm very similar to him, especially at speed, and most people even think I'm stronger than him!"

Seskoe is 1 inch taller than Haaland, and is also good at scoring goals with both feet and stumble behind him.. If you want to know where his confidence comes from, you might as well look at his idol:

"Ibrahimovic is my idol," he told the Guardian in 2023. "I'm not saying that I play like him, but he enjoys football on the court and does whatever he wants. I'm very happy to see such a player, and I'll look for all his videos." After joining the "Dream Theater", Sesco will face tremendous pressure from day one. Fans will be wary of him becoming the next Hoylund, who scored his first goal in the Premier League in four months in his first season, only 4 goals in 22 league games last season, and was also in a 22-game drought.

Cesco's arrival will almost certainly accelerate Hoylund's departure, and he will become the team's main striker, but may also face competition: if Amorin brings captain Bruno Fernandez's premise (he recently said he hopes to bring the captain closer to the opponent's penalty area), Brian Mbemo or Mattus Cunia may play a cameo center.

At Manchester United, Cesco will endure unprecedented scrutiny, but will also get the stage that he has longed for since his hometown has emerged. He needs to be as confident as his idols Haaland and Ibrahimovic in order to avoid repeating Hoylund's mistakes, who also joined at a high price but lacked sufficient resume support.

However, there is a key difference between Hoylund and Sesco's situation: the Danes were placed at that time on high expectations of activating a sluggish forward line and becoming the core, but they were difficult to meet; and Sesco would be a member of a new forward line with a total investment of more than 200 million pounds (partnered with Mbemo and Cunia), and the burden of revitalizing Manchester United will be shared by the three. If everything goes well, he will also share the glory of success.