Manchester United are not the club to blame if Benjamin Sesko becomes the next player to choose the Red Devils despite their recent shortcomings
A tall, athletic figure new to the area was seen leaving Costa in Hale Village, or was it Alderley Edge? It might have been Congleton. Either way he was moving at pace with a folder under his arm containing listings of gated palazzos in south Manchester’s luxury living zone.
It is not only the availability of well-located, high-end cribs in close proximity to an international airport that appeals to Benjamin Sesko, but the enduring appeal of a Manchester United brand that continues to carry all before it despite the inadequacies of the woeful Old Trafford executive.
Sesko, should he arrive as expected, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo are not radical outliers seeking a unique challenge, but ambitious ballers invested in an enduring idea of Manchester United.
The club’s history, scale, prestige, wealth and power have established it as one of the world’s great sporting institutions, the weight of which counts for more than the anomalous nosedive in circumstances with which Ruben Amorim is temporarily contending.
The handwringing at St James’ Park is the reflex of a club still adjusting to the lottery win that was Saudi investment.
Not only are Newcastle United suffering the consequences of fabulous wealth constrained by PSR, they are also hampered by a reputational deficit that has yet to catch up with the new reality.
Newcastle’s identity is still firmly anchored to glories buried in the silt of history. It is still the club of Wor Jackie Milburn, who led the team to three FA Cup victories in four years in the early 1950s, and before him Jackie Rutherford, the poster boy of the title-winning years between 1905 and 1909.
The club celebrated the Carabao Cup victory last season as if it were bringing the Champions League trophy back to the Gallowgate. Well, it was the first sighting of domestic silverware for 70 years.
Indeed the whole Newcastle vibe, its “big club” energy, is rooted in the fanaticism of supporters for whom the romance has never died despite the lost years.
Newcastle’s four league titles and six FA Cups represents a more storied history than Manchester City’s – two league titles and four FA Cups – prior to the Abu Dhabi takeover.
It has taken the best part of two decades for City to become established among the elite, to permeate the game’s collective consciousness as a premier offering.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - AUGUST 03: Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe claps his hands during the pre-season friendly match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on August 03, 2025 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle are struggling to attract players (Photo: Getty)
Initially, at least, City had none of the financial barriers inhibiting Newcastle’s growth and, alongside Chelsea, set about their epic disruption of the established order by throwing money at the project.
Newcastle’s advance is inevitable, of course, but the pace of renewal is necessarily slowed by measures designed to curb just the kind of power moves fashioned by City and Chelsea in the mid-noughties.
Like the club, the city too is much changed, recovering the civic grandeur of its past with the restoration of historic buildings, the redevelopment of a vibrant riverside economy. Hell, there is arguably no finer expression of Regency architecture in Britain than Grey Street.
Yet, despite its many calling cards, Newcastle is still playing catch-up, at least outside the North East, as a destination venue.
You can bet the anecdotal feedback informing Sesko’s impressions was front loaded with talk of crap weather, crap airport, bitter North Sea winds and wild nights in Bigg Market.
The delights of the Northumbrian coast and a verdant hinterland with landscapes as beautiful as any in the country had probably fallen off the checklist.
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So the great Cheshire Plain, with its affluent market towns and walled gardens appears to be a catchment to a football club that still captures the imagination in a way few can.
The pursuit of Sesko typifies the renewed optimism under Amorim, the carnage of last season already gathering dust as the young coach seemingly imposes a hint of authority and order.
Eddie Howe, on the other hand, is left to process the failings of a summer transfer policy and to understand why the club struggles to attract top players at this stage of its development.
The truth is Manchester United were never hampered by the absence of Champions League football or any lack of European involvement. Clever accounting allows them to allocate losses between Red Football Ltd, which relates purely to football activities and in accordance with Premier League rules, and Manchester United PLC, and thus to access the vast commercial revenues generated by the club to fund transfers.
Meanwhile Newcastle remain shackled by a system that denies it access to the riches it has. Blame City and Chelsea, not United.