Sesko another ‘waste of an investment’ at Man Utd after Ratcliffe ‘exaggerated’ financial issues

 Man Utd are buying another Rasmus Hojlund this summer as Benjamin Sesko will “need to adapt” to the Premier League, according to former Red Devils assistant manager Rene Meulensteen.

The Red Devils have won the race to sign Sesko from RB Leipzig with The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealing on Wednesday that Man Utd are beating Newcastle and ‘closing in’ on a deal to sign the Slovenian.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has since revealed that Man Utd have secured a ‘total agreement’ over personal terms after Sesko made it clear he would rather join the Red Devils than Newcastle.

But Meulensteen thinks he’s seen this play out before with Hojlund, who also has big potential, disappointing for two seasons after signing for £72m from Atalanta in 2023.

Meulensteen told Poker Strategy: “Manchester United’s bid for Benjamin Sesko is basically exactly what they did with Rasmus Hojlund. If he scores in the first three or four games and hits the ground running then he could be the answer for the club, but there’s a chance that won’t happen.

“If you look at Hojlund, he joined Atalanta and performed well alongside the rest of the team and then joined United.  The same can be said for Sesko – the Bundesliga is a very different league to the Premier League, so he’ll need to adapt. Has Sesko got potential? 100%, but he’s still young and developing and he isn’t the finished article.”

Meulensteen added: “I look at someone like Ollie Watkins who may be available. He’s a hard-working player with similar features to Sesko, except that he already has Premier League experience which is priceless. I think Sesko would probably cost more than Watkins too.

“Why doesn’t the club bring in Watkins and allow the coaches to work closely with Hojlund to allow him to develop? It’s a waste of an investment otherwise – they paid close to £80m for him and they’re in danger of selling him for less than half of that unless he develops.”

Earlier this year, Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe claimed that the Red Devils would have gone “bust at Christmas” without the cost-saving measures he put in place.

But deals for Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo cost a combined £127.5m, while the package on the table for Sesko is reportedly worth around £74m.

And football finance expert Stefan Borson reckons Ratcliffe painted “a slightly exaggerated picture” earlier this year.

Borson told Football Insider: “Manchester United are in the same position as City, Chelsea and a number of clubs in terms of wanting to sell off some of their dead wood.

“We know about Sancho, Antony, they haven’t sold Rashford, but he’s gone on loan.

“They have not brought in the cash that they would have expected to so far, and that is a challenge, but they seem to be keen to continue the spending.

“The cash problems and financial problems that Ratcliffe talked about in February seem to have dissipated despite a whole succession of things going against them from a budgeting perspective.

“Everything seems to have gone worse since he gave that interview with various people, so I’m not sure why they now feel more comfortable spending, or whether there was maybe a slightly exaggerated picture painted in February.”