LIKENED to Erling Haaland and modelled on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, no wonder Benjamin Sesko ticks a lot of boxes for Arsenal fans.
RB Leipzig‘s Slovenian hotshot is closing in on a move to the Emirates, with the two clubs haggling over the fee.
Arsenal are in negotiations to sign Benjamin Sesko[/caption]
The striker has earned comparisons to Erling Haaland[/caption]
Mikel Arteta is a big fan of Sesko[/caption]
But is he truly the answer to the Gunners’ long-running search for a striker and are they really signing Erling Haaland Mark II?
His pals at Leipzig certainly think so and Sesko, 22, has done nothing to try to play down the comparison.
Speaking with similar modesty to his idol Ibrahimovic, he said: “Such comparisons motivate me and give me energy. They do not represent pressure, I will listen and learn, so I can be even better than Haaland is.
“My team-mates at the club tell me that Haaland and I are very similar, especially in terms of speed. Most of them even tell me that I’m better than him.”
So what can Arsenal fans expect if the deal does go through? Here, SunSport bring you the lowdown on the latest Bundesliga star heading for our shores.
How it started
Sesko had already played for four clubs and five teams by the time he was 18. He started out as a centre-back and his goalkeeping dad Ales wanted him to play between the sticks.
But his son described that as “boring” and he instead studied clips of Zlatan as he pursued a career up front.
Aged 14, he scored 59 goals in just 23 matches for Krsko Under-15s and by the time he was 16 he had signed for Red Bull Salzburg, two months before Haaland joined the Austrians.
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Manchester United were interested in taking the teen Sesko to Old Trafford but refused to pay the £3m fee and Salzburg stepped in.
And how’s it going?
Pretty good apart from one blip at Salzburg when he voiced his anger at not being first-choice striker which, by his own admission, “didn’t go down well”.
He explained: “All of a sudden, I wasn’t even on the bench, I was watching from the stands – it was the worst moment.”
He has since gone from strength to strength, racking up records on the way.
Sesko became the youngest player for Slovenia just a day after his 18th birthday and, four months later, he was his nation’s youngest scorer.
He joined Leipzig in 2023 and has impressed in the Bundesliga, notably scoring in seven consecutive games at the end of his debut season.
What attributes does he bring?
He has got an absolute thunderbolt of a shot. Sesko can deliver a cannonball from his right foot – his 25-yard goal against Werder Bremen in January was recorded at just shy of 80mph and it is not an isolated incident.
The Slovenian loves to have a crack from distance and, while it can be a little ambitious, his shot accuracy is only just behind Haaland’s at 62 per cent last season.
He has very quick feet, explosive pace and the ability to dribble. Sesko can receive a ball, turn swiftly and be gone before the defender has even laid a hand on him.
And then there is his obvious athleticism. At 6ft5 he is a powerful man who holds the ball up well and gives opponents a tough time.
Similar to Haaland, then?
Physically, yes, although Haaland is actually an inch smaller. But Manchester City‘s Norwegian is an old-school battering ram centre-forward, Sesko isn’t quite like that.
Haaland is a proper goal poacher and last season was content to average 23 touches in a game compared to the 34 touches of Sesko who drops deeper for Leipzig.
That does allow Sesko to weigh in with assists, he managed five last season, and he has got the vision to pick a pass.
But if you truly want to compare the two, you have to look at their goal records and this is where Sesko is no Haaland.
Both men played for Salzburg but Haaland hit 17 goals in 16 league appearances, compared to Sesko’s 21 goals in 55 games.
In the Bundesliga, they have played for clubs with similar ambitions but again Sesko’s return of 27 goals in 64 league outings for Leipzig does not stack up with Haaland’s 62 goals in 67 Dortmund appearances.
Any reservations?
Presumably, yes, as Arsenal have been trying to push the price down from the original figures of £70m to £60m.
Sesko signed a new contract until 2029 last year but Leipzig’s failure to qualify for even the Europa Conference League next season, when they are hosting the final, has caused embarrassment and put pressure on them to sell.
Despite Leipzig’s worst campaign in eight years, Sesko did score 13 goals in the Bundesliga and 21 overall, maintaining his position as one of the club’s most sellable assets along with Dutchman Xavi Simons.
He is still raw, lacks a little composure and he does benefit from playing alongside an out-and-out second striker, in Leipzig’s case 5ft 10in Lois Openda, which won’t happen at Arsenal.
So he will have to adapt to the Gunners’ formation, although you would expect Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka to supply the same sort of service he received from Dani Olmo in his debut season at Leipzig.
So is he the answer for Arsenal?
The Gunners need a striker who is prolific. They don’t need someone who scores in fits and starts. And that’s where opinion is a little divided in Germany.
He does score great goals. But that does not mean he is a great goalscorer…yet.
Sesko’s Bundesliga record of 27 goals in 64 games for Leipzig is very much like Kai Havertz‘s 29 goals in 64 league games in his last two seasons for Leverkusen. Havertz wasn’t playing as a No9 then and Arsenal fans wouldn’t describe him as prolific.
Perhaps more worryingly for Gooners, Timo Werner, another Leipzig export, bagged 44 league goals in the same amount of games before he left for Chelsea in 2020.
Sesko is capable of going on a hot streak. On top of his seven-game goal run, he has also managed to score in five consecutive matches.
However, he has experienced an eight-game goal drought and he took five games to find the net last season.
Should they switch to another target?
There is no question Sesko has a higher ceiling than Viktor Gyokeres and, at 22, he is five years younger than the Sporting Lisbon striker.
And while Hugo Ekitike did outscore him in the Bundesliga last season, Sesko is a more natural No9.
There is a lot to like about him and he has shown he can perform against top opposition, three goals in four Bundesliga matches against Bayern Munich is a good yardstick.
And he did score against Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League although, notably, he drew blanks against Liverpool and Aston Villa.
If Arsenal can knock the fee down to £60m that may well sway their decision. After all with Sesko, every little helps.
