Man Utd agree £74m deal for Leipzig striker Sesko

At 6ft 5in, Sesko would bring a significant physical presence to Manchester United's front line
- Published
Manchester United have agreed a deal worth £73.7m (85m euros) with Red Bull Leipzig to sign Benjamin Sesko.
The agreement includes a guaranteed payment of £66.3m (76.5m euros) with the remainder in add-ons.
Sesko will now complete the formalities, including undergoing a medical on Friday, before finalising his move to Old Trafford.
The 22-year-old Slovenia forward, who was also wanted by Newcastle, has scored 39 goals in 87 appearances for German side Leipzig.
United have aready signed forwards Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo this summer for a combined fee of about £130m.
Those payments have been arranged in a favourable way to allow United to keep spending, while the entirety of Marcus Rashford's £325,000-a-week salary is being covered by his loan move to Barcelona.
United also received £5m from Chelsea after the Blues pulled out of a deal to sign Jadon Sancho.
And United want a further £50m for Argentine winger Alejandro Garnacho, who is attracting interest from Chelsea and has been told he can leave Old Trafford this summer.
Their main striker from last season, Rasmus Hojlund, has been made available for sale for £40m after scoring just 14 Premier League goals in two seasons.
Sesko's decision to move to Old Trafford is a further blow to Newcastle, who missed out on Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool and face seeing their main striker Alexander Isak potentially join him at Anfield.
Since moving to Germany, Sesko is the top scorer currently aged under 23 in all competitions, of players based in Europe's top five leagues - with 39 goals in 87 games.
He is one ahead of Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham and five clear of Florian Wirtz, who joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for £100m this summer.
Sesko is big, strong, quick, good in the air and a fine finisher, and has been compared to Erling Haaland - and not just because they both played for Salzburg.
He was one of the fastest strikers in the Bundesliga at 35.7km/h - and had the best aerial success rate of strikers involved in at least 60 of them.
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- Published26 July 2022