Man Utd confident of beating Newcastle to Benjamin Sesko

Manchester United are confident that Benjamin Sesko will choose them over Newcastle.

ESPN reports that United have made Ollie Watkins and Benjamin Sesko their top two names on their striker shortlist this summer.

United play to sign a top number nine before the summer market closes and their intention is to sign one of Watkins or Sesko.

However, ESPN adds that it won’t be easy as United are concerned by the high valuations of the players from their clubs Aston Villa and Leipzig, respectively.

Sesko prefers United over Newcastle

Nevertheless, the report claims that United are confident that Sesko would choose them over his other suitor Newcastle.

Newcastle have launched a move for Sesko this week as a replacement for Alexander Isak, who has requested to leave and is the subject of a potential British record bid from Liverpool.

But ESPN claims that Sesko prefers a move to Man Utd, despite their failure to qualify for the Champions League.

The report adds that Villa do not ideally want to sell Watkins, whereas Sesko is available for sale.

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed this will be a crucial week for Sesko’s future as he revealed that Newcastle and Man Utd are both vying for the player.

“Newcastle are ready to make something big,” Romano said. “But Manchester United on Monday morning made new contacts with Benjamin Sesko’s camp to start conversations about eventual numbers, the contract, the vision. So Manchester United are starting to move.

“Newcastle have already presented their project and are prepared to match the financial request. But Manchester United have started the concrete conversation to be informed of the situation after discussing is name internally for weeks.”

Romano has claimed that Sesko has a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Leipzig to lower their asking price to around €70m plus add-ons if he deems the club to be a ‘special’ option.

Sesko, who was a target for Arsenal before they signed Viktor Gyokeres, scored an impressive 21 goals in 45 games in all competitions this past season.

Sesko scored 18 goals in 42 games for his club in 2024-25 and went to Euro 2024 with Slovenia.

He has 16 goals in 41 games for Slovenia.

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