The very latest Man Utd transfer news as they continue to work on a deal for RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko.
Ex-Man Utd interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
Ex-Man Utd interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Image: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
RB Leipzig frontman Benjamin Sesko continues to be on radar for Manchester United this summer - and the Old Trafford giants already received a clear verdict from Ralf Rangnick.
United are advancing on a deal for Sesko this summer - as reported by The Manchester Evening News earlier this week - but will face competition from Newcastle for him. The Slovenia international was also linked with Arsenal, earlier in the transfer window, before the Gunners instead chose to sign Viktor Gyokeres.
A new No.9 has been at the top of United's wish-list ever since they confirmed deals for Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. Sesko is United's key target for the centre forward position, and the striker has already been praised by a former United boss.
Rangnick was United's interim manager in the first half of 2022, before being replaced by Erik ten Hag. The German, who is now in charge of the Austria national team, once said that United would need "open-heart surgery" on their squad to get back to challenging at the top of the Premier League.
There were also heavy-handed reports that Rangnick informed United of players who he'd recommended the club try and sign. Sesko was reported to be one of them, and it was in September last year that the former United boss spoke about the striker.
Rangnick was preparing Austria to meet Slovenia in a Nations League fixture, where he named Sesko as one of the players worth keeping an eye on in the opposition.
"They [Slovenia] didn't concede a single goal from open play at the European Championship [Euro 2024], only one from a corner and one from a throw-in," Rangnick said in September last year, via Laola1. "You can see how difficult it is to create chances and score goals against them.
"This is a compact, close-knit team with an outstanding individual player in Benjamin Sesko. We have to try to play fast, bring in changes of rhythm, and defend as well as we can so that we don't concede a goal ourselves."
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