Manchester United completed the blockbuster signing of Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig last weekend.
United agreed to pay a package worth €85 million (£73.6m) to the German club.
According to Spanish publication Sport, Barcelona feel ‘hurt’ by Sesko’s move to Man United.
Barcelona’s sporting director Deco saw the Slovenian as a successor to Robert Lewandowski and was ready to make a move in the summer of 2026.
With Lewandowski turning 37 later this month and entering the final year of his contract, the Catalan giants were quietly preparing for life after the Polish international.
A poor move from Barcelona to unsettle Sesko
Leipzig had a gentleman’s agreement with Sesko to sanction his exit if a big club made an offer in the region of €80m-€90m.
If the Catalan giants truly wanted Sesko in Spain, they should have acted this summer as the interest in the forward was very high.
However, they wanted to wait until next year to maintain harmony with Lewandowski.
It is hard to imagine Barcelona spending heavily on one player, considering they have fought with the La Liga hierarchy to register their players over the last two years.
Their financial troubles are well-documented and signing Sesko would have been a dream without selling one of their key players.
They could not even fund a permanent deal for Marcus Rashford this summer, resorting instead to a loan-plus-buy arrangement to get the deal over the line.
Sesko was ready for the challenge of dragging United back to the summit, putting pen to paper on a five-year contract that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2030.
He will be United’s leading centre-forward for the upcoming campaign and has already drawn praise from manager Ruben Amorim.
The United head coach described him as a young player with ‘great potential‘.Sesko netted 39 goals and recorded eight assists in 87 games for Leipzig.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com