Manchester United have reached an agreement in principle with RB Leipzig for the signing of striker Benjamin Sesko.
A deal worth €76.5million (£66.4m; $89.1m) and €8.5m in add-ons is in place, with Sesko given permission to travel for medical tests ahead of the proposed move.
As part of the agreement, the clubs will meet in a friendly in future at Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena.
The Old Trafford club then finalised the operation in a relatively smooth and fast manner. They managed to secure a lower guaranteed fee than Newcastle and will be happy if the contingency payments are achieved.
Newcastle initial tabled a proposal worth €75m and €5m, before raising that on Monday to at least €80m.
Within 24 hours, Manchester United came in at €75m plus €10m. Newcastle found a compromise with Leipzig but it became clear Sesko was leaning towards their Premier League rivals.
This comes despite Newcastle providing Champions League football in 2025-26.
Sesko scored 21 goals in all competitions for Leipzig last season and has recorded 39 goals and eight assists in 87 appearances for the Bundesliga team since joining from RB Salzburg in 2023.
Manchester United have already strengthened in forward areas via the additions of Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford.
Payment terms on Sesko are unknown, but Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo’s deals are staggered across three and four instalments respectively, helping United manage liquidity.
The 22-year-old Slovenian striker may be the biggest, roughest and shiniest diamond operating towards the top of Europe’s top five leagues.
This summer marks the third time Manchester United have been interested, first assessing him in 2019 when he emerged at NK Domzale’s senior team at 16, before monitoring him throughout the 2022-23 season, when he scored 16 goals in 30 games in the Austrian Bundesliga for Red Bull Salzburg.
In 2025, he has developed into a sledgehammer of a striker. He combines straight-line speed, powerful finishing and sheer bloody-mindedness to become a forward that centre-backs hate playing against.
A speedy, 195cm/6ft 5in striker who spent a brief period tearing up the Austrian league before moving to the Bundesliga, Sesko has earned some comparisons to Erling Haaland. Sesko is not quite at that level, but has plenty of the raw materials to suggest he could reach it.
His shot map from 2023-24 illustrates a striker happy to go for goal wherever and whenever. Left foot, right foot, headers. Long-range cannons and plenty of pingers within the penalty box.
Sesko is a striker with sky-high potential, but there is a considerable risk when signing such a player for a club like Manchester United.
He has the physical tools to adjust to life in the Premier League, but no one knows for sure whether he will have the ‘above shoulders’ temperament to deal with the scrutiny of life at Old Trafford.
