Manchester United’s move for Benjamin Sesko has been voted the worst signing of the summer, and three separate sources have offered their opinion as to why.
Man Utd spent in excess of £200m over the summer, with the bulk of that outlay coming in the final third. Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo arrived to fill the two No 10 positions in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation. The final piece of the puzzle was Benjamin Sesko.
The Slovenian cost £66.3m plus £7.4m in add-ons. After being curiously kept out of the starting eleven to begin with, Ruben Amorim handed his new frontman four consecutive starts in the league.
Sesko scored in each of the two previous matches prior to the international break, though despite encouraging signs, his deal has been voted the worst made by any Premier League side in the summer window.
The poll was conducted by The Athletic and 20 leading agents within the game right now were asked to give their opinion on varying transfer matters.
The question of who was the worst signing was asked and with six votes out of 20, Sesko placed in the dubious number one spot.
For context, James Trafford placed second with three votes, with that deal largely panned due to Manchester City going on to sign Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The Trafford move placing second was more with a view to it being a bad deal for the player – given he’s now stranded on the bench – whereas Sesko’s transfer was described as bad for Man Utd.
Explaining why, The Athletic quoted three of the agents who took part in their poll.
“Way too much money and much too soon,” said one agent.
“They were pressurised into making that signing,” explained another.
“A lot of money for not much of a pedigree,” was the assessment of a third.
Sesko wasn’t Man Utd’s first choice striker
Fabrizio Romano confirmed over the weekend that Sesko was NOT Man Utd’s first choice striker.
In fact, Man Utd actually struck a club-to-club agreement with Sporting CP to sign Viktor Gyokeres, only for the Swede to resist a move to Old Trafford in favour of joining Arsenal.
Gyokeres got his wish, leaving Man Utd to ramp up their pursuit of Sesko.
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins also came under serious consideration, but aged 29, United ultimately chose to go with the much younger option.
The Athletic’s poll is rather brutal, though is it important to stress two of the agents who voted for Sesko pointed to the money involved, rather than questioning Sesko’s ability.
Man Utd are no stranger to having their pants pulled down in the transfer market and overpaying for players. That is not the fault of Sesko.
In any case, Sesko now has the chance to make a mockery of this poll over the next eight months. A goal next time out when Man Utd travel to face Liverpool at Anfield would certainly make headlines for all the right reasons.