Lean, mean, Slovene machine!

And the signing of a centre-forward seems to take people even higher, delivering peak levels of exhilaration. That’s certainly the case for Manchester United’s fourth new face of the summer: Benjamin Sesko.

Our goalscoring problems were much commented upon last season. In the Premier League we found the net just 44 times in 38 matches – only the relegated teams and Everton scored fewer.

The club’s attempts to help Ruben Amorim fix that particular problem have been swift and straightforward: two of the league’s top 10 scorers from 2024/25, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, have been added, and Sesko’s arrival means that an entirely new front three could take to the pitch this season.

Cunha and Mbeumo are well known to most Reds. The former terrorised United on the opening day of the 2023/24 season – a match his former team, Wolves, were deeply unlucky to lose – and scored against us at Molineux on Boxing Day last year.

Mbeumo was integral to Brentford’s famous 4-0 thrashing of Erik ten Hag’s United back in 2022. But less is known about our latest acquisition: the tall, smiling, 22-year-old Slovenian who was paraded on the Old Trafford pitch before the final pre-season friendly, against Fiorentina.

So here’s the lowdown, courtesy of United Review...

WHAT’S THE STORY?

Born in Radece, a small town about 40 miles from Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, in 2003, Sesko gave notice of his talent at a young age. His father, Ales, was a keeper for local club Radece – and Benjamin would also join the team, at age seven.

While blessed with the same towering height as his father, Sesko junior quickly revealed instincts more suited to the opposite end of the pitch.

In 2016, he joined Krsko, about 20 miles away, and began battering goals in for their youth sides. In 2017/18 he notched an eyebrow-raising 59 for Krsko’s Under-15s, inspiring top-flight Slovenian club Domzale to swoop.

It wasn’t long before Bayern Munich and other top European clubs made enquiries, but Sesko opted for Red Bull Salzburg, who proposed a clear career pathway and time to develop.

That’s what occurred during the following years. He was immediately loaned out to FC Liefering, in the Austrian Second Division, and after a slow start, pillaged 21 goals in 29 league games in his second campaign.

A first-team debut for RB Salzburg followed swiftly, and an agreement with RB Leipzig was announced in 2022 – the summer Sesko impressed many in England by scoring the only goal in Salzburg’s 1-0 pre-season win over Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

He made the switch to Germany in 2023, and would net 39 goals in 87 matches for his new club, before agreeing to join United.

NO SIMPLE TARGET MAN

The first thing to note is Sesko’s height: at 6ft 5in, he has drawn comparisons to both Erling Haaland and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – his childhood idol. But while Sesko is good in the air, like Haaland and Ibrahimovic, this is no simple target man.

A few years ago, a video of the 14-year-old Sesko dislodging a basketball trapped between the backboard and the rim of the hoop – with his foot! – went viral. The lesson? He can get high, but not just with his head; there’s a real technical agility to what he can do.

His goals show a range of skills: booming shots, dexterous turns in tight spaces, improvised finishes from different ranges.

Like Haaland, there’s dizzying pace and strength. But there’s also a touch of Zlatan’s acrobatic flexibility and love of improvisation.

“Since I’ve been small, I’ve been watching him [Ibrahimovic],” he told MUTV, in his signing interview. “Every single YouTube video that I can find! Because he’s just amazing for me, you know. We don’t have the same, let’s say, character, but I like to see the way he plays, the way he enjoys football. Basically it’s just been my dream, maybe one day, to meet him. That would be great. He’s my idol.”

AND OFF THE FIELD?

Away from football, Sesko enjoys playing and watching basketball, and also told RB Leipzig’s club media that he likes to meditate at least once a day and pays close attention to his mental wellbeing – even studying books and theories on the subject.

In the statement that accompanied news of United’s signing, director of football Jason Wilcox noted that his character was a key component of the club’s decision to buy him.

“Benjamin possesses a rare combination of electrifying pace and the ability to physically dominate defenders, making him one of the most exceptional young talents in world football,” said Wilcox. “We have followed Benjamin’s career closely; all of our data analysis and research concluded that he has the required qualities and personality to thrive at Manchester United.”

Media reports claim United have tracked the player since he was a teenager, before he joined RB Salzburg in 2019, while Arsenal and Newcastle’s interest has also been noted. For Sesko, the decision to join United was not only due to the magic of the club’s traditions, but also the ambition for the future.

“It’s a historical club that is unbelievable,” says our new no.30. “For me, the team is great, it is getting better and better, and that’s why also there is just stuff that made you come there: it gives you this energy that you want to be part of. It’s just a great project in general.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR HIM?

Prominent in the press release that confirmed Sesko’s arrival was the line that ‘over the past two seasons, Sesko has scored the most goals of any player under the age of 23 in Europe’s top five leagues.’

So it’s clear that here is a footballer that is already operating at a high level, with good experience behind him both domestically and internationally (Sesko has scored 16 times for Slovenia in 41 senior appearances).

Last year he delivered 21 in all competitions for Leipzig and mustered eight assists. Within that goalscoring tally were four strikes in the elite Champions League. But after the player’s unveiling last weekend, Ruben Amorim was keen to stress that the player is still “really young”, with “great potential”.

As with all United’s new signings, there will be a period of adaptation, as Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko get used to playing with each other and alongside Bruno Fernandes and the other attackers already in situ.

The hope is that the new trio can share the goalscoring burden – Cunha and Mbeumo both acted as the spearhead of our attack during pre-season – and that Sesko will be allowed the time and space to continue the encouraging progress he has made during his career so far.

“What are my ambitions here? Just that we get better, that we connect in general and we, as a team, try to grow together step by step,” said Sesko in that first club interview. “It’s just a matter of time when we can fly high again.”

This piece was first published in the Arsenal edition of United Review, the club's official matchday programme.