Ruben Amorim has been encouraged by Benjamin Sesko since the Slovenian striker signed for Manchester United two weeks ago.
Benjamin Sesko was unveiled as a Manchester United player at Old Trafford after completing a move from RB Leipzig.
Our new No. 30 made his debut as a substitute in United’s 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
Sesko joins a revamped attack that consists of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, after United spent over £200 million on new signings thus far this summer.
There was emphasis on United’s attacking department as Amorim prepares to build a team without Antony, Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho – with all three outcasts available for sale this summer.
The need for an improvement in front of goal comes after the Red Devils managed to score just 44 goals in the Premier League last term.
Sesko is expected to provide more goals than Rasmus Hojlund, after the Dane netted just 10 times across all competitions in his second season at Old Trafford.
Benjamin Sesko runs, playing for Manchester United
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Benjamin Sesko is better than Ruben Amorim imagined
After establishing himself as one of the best strikers in the Bundesliga, Sesko embarks on his first season in the Premier League.
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Mbeumo and Cunha will join Sesko in the final third, occupying the No. 10 roles, which means they will share the workload alongside the young striker. They showed enough threat against Arsenal to give United fans a renewed sense of optimism.
Thankfully, that optimism is shared by Amorim.
“We have different options this year, but sometimes football is more than just on the pitch,” Amorim told Sky Sports.
“They [Mbeumo and Cunha] are coming in at a moment where the spirit is different, the place is different – sometimes we have a lot of very good players but the scars were there and that influenced the dynamic of the team.
“They can help us, not just on the pitch but off the pitch too, I feel the guys are more free because they were not here in the very, very difficult moments – they are seeing a different thing.”
In addition, Amorim admitted that Sesko is better than he initially imagined, after paying closer attention to the 22-year-old at Carrington since his eagerly anticipated arrival.
Amorim added: “When you are in a club like this, you want to have the best players but you also have to imagine the future.
“That is so exciting – I like to know the players, I like to see the videos of the players and to try to get all the information, but you want that confirmation and I felt Sesko was even better than what I was thinking.
“I have to be careful, Sesko is going to be our striker for many, many years so we need to put that in his head and let him settle down, to stay calm and enjoy his day because he’s really like you said, obsessed.
“I’m really happy – not just with him but with Cunha, Diego (Leon), and Mbeumo – we know that we have the players and we know that in our future we are going to have that base and that is really important for us.”
Amorim explains what ‘success’ means for Man Utd
It would be a stretch to expect United to jump from 15th place to 1st in the Premier League.
Amorim is realistic in that respect, but United’s head coach is aware that winning titles is the only way he can be successful at Old Trafford.
We are only one game into the new season and United have a lot of work to do if they are to get back into the European places.
When asked about success this season, Amorim added: “Success is to win titles, and we don’t know if we are going to achieve that (this season).
“We are not in the moment that we can say we are clearly fighting for the league – we just need to get the small steps and the small steps is to prepare every game like it’s a final.
“We want to be really competitive, trying to dominate games, trying to score goals and not get our fans bored to see our games… so if we have the small things and we put check, check, check – in the end, it’s going to be better.
“I think everyone knows that we have a goal – not for this season but in three years to win the Premier League title.
“We are going to do these steps to reach that goal, but in this club, you know that every week the narrative is going to be different so we need to be prepared for that, block the noise, do the job and try to win games.”