Manchester United are ready to sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig, despite offering the Slovenia international a smaller wage than transfer rivals Newcastle.
LISTEN TO THE LATEST EPISODE HERE
The two clubs have been locked for days in a transfer battle over the 22-year-old Sesko, with Man Utd ultimately prevailing thanks to some smart manoeuvring on their part, but also with some concessions made by the striker and his agent.
Transfer insider Duncan Castles has detailed how Man Utd struck a deal with the Bundesliga club to get Sesko over the line on The Transfers Podcast, powered by FootballTransfers.
Man Utd are ready to pay €85 million to RB Leipzig for Sesko, while they will also throw in a sweetener. The Red Devils will travel to the Bundesliga side in the future for a glamour friendly, which is expected to raise around €1.5m more for Die Roten Bullen.
The structure of the deal has played a crucial part in United winning the race for the player. Although Newcastle were ready to pay more for Sesko initially, the Red Devils have offered RB Leipzig easier-to-attain bonus payments, tipping the balance in their favour.
On the player’s part, Sesko will accept a lower wage at Man Utd than he was offered at Newcastle. Furthermore, the agent also accepted a lower commission for his client to sign for the Old Trafford side.
Vivell crucial to Sesko deal
The involvement of Man Utd director of recruitment Christopher Vivell was also vitally important for this transfer. The German maintains a close relationship with Sesko and his representative, having previously worked with them in the Red Bull system.
“Vivell was the scout for Red Bull Salzburg when Sesko was taken from Slovenian football to Austrian football, and he was also the director of football at Leipzig when he moved from Salzburg to Leipzig, one of the other clubs in Red Bull’s European multi-club network,” Castles explained in the latest episode of The Transfers Podcast.
“So you have that long established relationship there, with Vivell betting on the player from a young age and looking at his development through the Red Bull system, and then convincing Ruben Amorim that if you wanted a kind of battering ram physical forward of the type of Viktor Gyokeres, who they failed to get – Gyokeres choosing to go to Arsenal instead – that Sesko was the correct solution for them.
“I think you can see that that ability, that personal relationship, has helped sell Man Utd to the player. And in contrast, you have Newcastle United operating without a chief executive, operating without a director of football and one of their minority owners, Jamie Reuben, doing part of the direct negotiations to try and convince the player to come to Newcastle.”
The Transfers Podcast
Join the Transfers Podcast chat on WhatsApp
The Transfers Podcast, powered by FootballTransfers, is available on your preferred podcast platform and YouTube. Subscribe here:
Football transfer news headlines today
The FootballTransfers app
Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.
The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:
