BENJAMIN SESKO first pulled on the Manchester United shirt two weeks before his unveiling.
United head of recruitment Christopher Vivell and director of transfer negotiations Matt Hargreaves made a presentation to Sesko’s representatives in late July.
Vivell rang Sesko’s camp after United weighed up whether to move for him or Ollie Watkins, having missed out on Liam Delap.
United produced an AI-generated video which showed fans wearing Sesko’s shirt at Old Trafford and presented his entourage with a shirt.
Sesko was preparing for pre-season with RB Leipzig when his agent met him to go over United’s pitch and handed him the shirt.
Leipzig sources say Sesko put on the shirt, looked at the United crest and said: “Just make it happen.”
Newcastle offered Sesko a higher salary but the pull of United was so powerful just when he pulled on the shirt.
Now Sesko is starting to show why United agreed a £74million deal with Leipzig. He has scored seven goals in eight games and three have been matchwinners.
The 22-year-old has secured ten points under Michael Carrick, having managed only two goals under Ruben Amorim.
Sources close to Sesko insist his form is not primarily down to the change of coach, despite registering more goals in two games under caretaker Darren Fletcher than he did under Amorim.
At Sesko’s previous clubs Liefering, Red Bull Salzburg and Leipzig, he tended to have an impotent first six months and then a prolific second six months.
Between September 2020 and March 2021, the 17-year-old Sesko tallied only three goals for Austrian side Liefering. He plundered 18 goals in the final 14 games of that season.
After an underwhelming first season with Salzburg, Sesko claimed five goals before Christmas in his second campaign. After Christmas, he struck 11 goals in 14 league appearances.
The trend continued at Leipzig: three goals in the first 15 games and 11 goals in the next 16 games.
During the 2023-24 season, those close to Sesko noticed he was not shooting from outside the area as often as he used to. Someone half-jokingly suggested Sesko write down, ‘I will shoot more often’ 100 times.
Sesko actually scrawled the sentence 100 times on paper. Remarkably, he then scored in each of his next seven games.
Vivell knew Sesko well from his seven-year spell with the Red Bull group. He was also at Chelsea when they attempted to buy Sesko in 2022.
Chelsea were so keen to recruit Sesko a well-placed source says they offered him “whatever he wanted”.
United’s football director, John Murtough, also held talks with Sesko’s agent in summer 2022.
Sesko was 19 and his adviser was adamant it was too early for him to move to the Premier League, so he agreed a transfer to Salzburg’s sister club Leipzig.
Elvis Basanovic, Sesko’s agent, promised United that Sesko would join them three years later. United thought he was joking but the prediction turned out to be accurate.
United kept in touch with Sesko’s reps and touched base in 2023 and 2024, summers where they invested a combined £108.5m in Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee.
Arsenal seriously considered a move for Sesko last summer (and mentioned a higher salary than the one he agreed with United) before settling on Viktor Gyokeres.
United fleetingly considered whether to invest in a central midfielder rather than a striker in the final weeks of the summer transfer window but ultimately knew they could not continue with Hojlund and Zirkzee.
Senior figures at United spoke damningly about Hojlund towards the end of last season and they highlighted his woeful return of four Premier League goals during discussions with Sesko’s camp.
Mindful that United had ended with a minus goal difference in the past two seasons, Sesko’s entourage candidly told United not to expect 25 goals from the striker in his first season and that between 10 and 15 was a realistic target.
Sesko nodded in his ninth goal for United in the 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace and they have nine more games. He has already scored double the number of league goals that Hojlund mustered last term.
Amorim, who appeared on United’s video-call presentation to Sesko’s advisers, did not start him in the league until after the September internationals when Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount were both out injured.
Sesko partly struggled in his first weeks in Manchester as he was staying in The Lowry Hotel and did not have access to the desired facilities away from United’s Carrington training complex.
At his home in Cheshire, Sesko has a gym, a sauna and a specially designed football pitch. He has had double-glazed windows fitted to drown out the noise from the nearby Manchester Airport so he can sleep better.
When Sesko returned from a six-week lay-off with a knee injury in late December, he assured those close to him he was now properly ready to lead the line for United.
He squandered presentable chances in two of Amorim’s final games at Aston Villa and Leeds, where United lost and drew.
In Fletcher’s first game in charge against Burnley, Sesko was fully match-fit and he scored two fine goals.
Carrington sources admit he was initially “shocked” to be dropped by Carrick in the Manchester derby after three goals in two matches under Fletcher.
But Sesko’s application has been exemplary and he emerged off the bench to bank invaluable points against Fulham, West Ham and Everton.
Someone who has followed Sesko’s career from when he was a 14-year-old is adamant that he is the only player in the Premier League who could have scored the cushioned volley in added time at West Ham.
That was named the United goal of the month for February and Sesko had the club’s player of the month award to accompany it.
He was determined to shake off the ‘super-sub’ tag and did that on his first start under Carrick with a heroic header against Palace on Sunday.
Sesko now has his own chant, which was belted out for the first time by the Stretford End during the Palace win.
To the tune of Sting’s Englishman In New York, it goes: “Sesko, he’s Slovenian, he’ll sell out the stadium and score goals like Yorke and Cole.”
The shirt is not weighing heavily now.
