Not for the first time over the past week, it was a whirlwind Monday night in the ongoing Benjamin Sesko saga, which may be finally coming to a close.
For context, The Athletic’s David Ornstein kicked things off, revealing that we’d upped our £65m (plus £5m in add-ons) bid to ‘at least’ £70m.
He added that Man Utd haven’t bid yet and have indicated, so far, that they’d offer less than our latest offer, with Newcastle making progress on Monday after co-owner Jamie Reuben held ‘positive talks’ with the Leipzig and Sesko himself.
Sky’s Keith Downie adds that our £70m offer is structured to offer the entire sum up front, while his colleagues in Sky Germany say it’s £70m plus add-ons, which could see it reach £78.3m in total.
And this brings us to Leipzig’s reply, which is said to be positive, with Sky’s Sacha Tavolieri claiming in the early hours of Tuesday morning that the Bundesliga side look set to ACCEPT our proposal worth €90m (£78.3m).
He states that Newcastle are now expected to ‘reach a full agreement’ with RB Leipzig ‘soon’, even going as far to say that Sesko’s decision is to join Eddie Howe’s Mags.
🚨 ⚫️⚪️ EXCL – RB Leipzig now expected to accept €90M deal for Šeško !
🔴⚪️ Newcastle expected to reach a full agreement with RB Leipzig soon. #NUFC now waiting for RBL final approval.
✅ As revealed on 2/08 at midnight, Benjamin Šeško decision is to join the Magpies. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/0ZH3fQUpL3
— Sacha Tavolieri (@sachatavolieri) August 4, 2025
The Sesko saga swings back and forth, but these are the strongest claims yet on a potential move to Newcastle, coming just hours after Craig Hope revealed that we were pushing hard following encouragement that the 22-year-old is happy to sign.
My guess is that our massive up front offer is not only a bid to blow Man Utd out of the water, but also a sign that we may be getting a huge fee soon for a certain Alexander Isak, who is highly likely to leave for Liverpool should Sesko arrive.