Arsenal are advancing in talks to sign Benjamin Sesko but there is still a long way to go.
Fabrizio Romano reports that the Gunners have opened official talks for the 22-year-old striker, who will certainly leave Leipzig this summer.
Arsenal have made the signing of a top class striker their number one priority for the summer transfer window and have been linked to other big names such as Viktor Gyokeres, Victor Osimhen and the Chelsea-bound Liam Delap.
What did Romano say?
“I can confirm that last week Arsenal had the first concrete real official talks with Red Bull for Benjamin Sesko,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.
“Arsenal spoke to RB Leipzig, they had talks with the agent of the player. Arsenal have started to understand the whole situation around Sesko; contract terms, the value of the player which will be less than his €100 million clause.
“Still nothing is agreed as of today but what we can say is that there is a contact ongoing with Arsenal and he is a strong candidate for Arsenal.
“Arsenal are really, really keen for Sesko, who they wanted a year ago and who they tried to sign in January.
“Sesko will leave Leipzig this summer, this is the clear plan of the player and the club.”
Sesko, who is also of interest to other Premier League clubs like Chelsea and Man Utd, was Arsenal’s number one attacking target during the last summer transfer window.
Arsenal had been in negotiations for several weeks with Leipzig and Sesko, and believed that a deal was all but done – with only some formalities to complete before the striker would agree on personal terms.
Sesko had made it clear in negotiations that he wanted to join Arsenal over other interested clubs such as AC Milan.
And meetings with Sesko’s entourage had all pointed to the striker joining Arsenal.
It then came as a huge shock when it was revealed at the start of June 2024 that Sesko would be staying at Leipzig, and he subsequently signed a new contract with the club.
He will now leave a year later, with Arsenal the favourites to sign him.
Sesko scored an impressive 21 goals in 45 games in all competitions this past season.
Sesko scored 18 goals in 42 games for his club in 2024-25 and went to Euro 2024 with Slovenia.
He has 16 goals in 41 games for Slovenia.
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