It seems like Manchester United are making a big statement to try and sign Sesko. The other signings we have made have been pretty quiet affairs. No big media love in, just quietly getting the deal done.
It seems like Sesko has a choice between us and Newcastle, with Newcastle being able to offer him UCL football, and seemingly happy to pay him whatever it takes. United seem to be making a push to try and sweet talk him, using their media mouthpiece (DO) to say he is the clubs clear first choice and priority option for striker.
A lot was made earlier in the window about the club only wanting to sign players who wanted to join the club. And while that is great in practice, in reality we are not in the powerful position of yesteryear and other clubs can offer as much money, and are in a better position to challenge immediately for major honours. We have seen players like Gyökeres choose another club while we didn’t make any public attempt to convince him. The limited striker options are dwindling down as the summer wears on. At some point maybe a change in tact in needed and we might need to try and convince a player to join us. Which seems to be what we are seeing with Sesko.
The noise previously coming out of the club was that Watkins made more sense as he is EPL proven and is ready right now to perform. The club NEEDS to qualify for at least the Europa league this season to get back on to a stronger financial footing. Signing a striker who pretty much guarantees 15 league goals this season over a striker who might not score that many goals in a season for us ever if he doesn’t fulfil his potential, and has not scored that many league goals in a top league ever in their career, makes a lot of sense. Even if the younger player has more potential and long term viability.
Has something changed? Probably. Maybe Aston Villa are digging their heels in and refusing to accept less than 60m for Watkins, a fee United just won’t pay for a striker who turns 30 before Christmas. Maybe Watkins isn’t prepared to push for the move to try and force down the price. Or maybe the club realise that if Sesko joins Newcastle then that is one less option and they need to really push for the deal before there are no options left.
I like Sesko as a player, he has many great qualities that could make him a real superstar. But I also have some reservations, his lack of experience, how he’ll adapt to the EPL, how he’ll carry the expectations his large transfer fee will place on him. Also as a player he seems to score great goals (his highlights look fantastic), but he doesn’t rack up a lot of shots per game. He seems to lack that killer instinct or hunger for goals that the most prolific strikers have. Maybe that lack of shots is just him as a player, or maybe that is down to the tactics that Leipzig use.
While I feel that we need a more experienced striker who is ready to score 15-20 league goals for us next season. The club have done a great job of bringing in players like Cunha and Mbeumo already who can carry a lot of the scoring load and reduce the pressure on the striker to always be the guy to get the goals. While we also have players like Bruno and Amad in the team who across a season should also chip in with a fair few goals. Maybe the need for that short term guaranteed goalscorer isn’t as big as it was at the end of last season.
Maybe Amorim’s thought process is about scoring more goals as a team rather than just more goals as individuals. Rather than rely on that one guy to score 40-50% of the teams goals, his aim is to have 4 or 5 players who’ll all get 10-12 goals each.
As a side note I’ve been quite impressed with Højlund during pre-season. He’s not been phenomenal, but there are definitely signs that he is improving on what we saw last season. We have to remember he was a very young guy when we signed him and he was never going to be the guy immediately, he was a 3 or 4 year project striker and we have to remember we are only 2 years into that project. Young players have lots of ups and downs, and we have a manager who has shown a consistent ability to improve young players.
Last season the biggest complaint I had with Højlund was his insistence to try and play the game in a way that highlighted his weaknesses rather than to his strengths. He has always been a striker who is better at playing on the shoulder and using his combination of pace and power (while running) to blitz past defenders and get on the end of through balls and finish when 1v1 with the keeper.
Yet he kept insisting on playing more like Zirkzee, dropping deep to try and link the play, or backing into CB’s and trying to out muscle them. Neither are things he is good at. Was he trying to hard to prove that he could develop his game and do things that coaches highlighted as weaknesses? Or was it under direct instruction for the manager/ coaches? Who knows.
Yet his natural style of play is pretty similar to what Gyökeres has mastered, so you’d think in theory he should be a decent fit for Amorim’s team. What we are seeing during pre-season is him starting to play more like his natural game, and how Amorim has typically used his strikers.
Maybe we should just write off last season entirely, ignore the poor individual performances, the entire team were disjointed, downtrodden, and seemingly unable to play to the best of their ability. Striker, more than any other position on the pitch, rely on the 10 players behind them to do their job well to provide them with the chances they need to do their job.
While most of us fans focused on the need to sign a striker and a goalkeeper this summer, the club and management team seems to have focused far more on those inside forward/ wide No.10 positions. Key players for Amorim’s system as they enable the pressing structure and ensure the double pivot midfield isn’t over run, while they are also the chief creators. Maybe, just maybe, the manager and the people running the club know a thing or two more about football than we the fans do.
If we manage to sign Sesko I will be interested to see how he does, I hope he smashes it and proves my doubts wrong. Nothing would make me happier. However, I think that the changes that will make the biggest difference have already been put in place. Bournemouth had already played 3 games before they played us. They beat Hibs 2-1, Bristol City 6-2, and comprehensively took apart Everton 3-0. In theory they were in better form during pre-season than we were. Yet without a single new signing we absolutely dominated them and beat them 4-1.
That highlights the progress the manager and his coaches have managed during pre-season. The players look fitter, leaner, more energetic, more athletic. They seem to understand the tactics the manager is asking of them, and more comfortable in playing that way. They also seem to be taking pre-season very seriously, there seems to be a real upturn in professionalism from the squad as a whole.
I fully expect us to add a striker, at this moment in time it looks most likely to be Sesko. But it could be Watkins, or Jackson, or Mateta, or someone else entirely. Beyond that maybe we add a keeper, maybe we add a midfielder. Much I think depends on outgoings. However, from what I’ve seen I’m confident that even if we don’t sign another player this summer, that we will see a much better side this season. Better performances and better results. I’m feeling pretty optimistic for this season.