Watch: Fabrizio Romano explains Man Utd’s latest transfer failure
You can’t always get what you want – but Manchester United club officials must be feeling they’ll never get what they need either after missing out on another transfer target, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Manchester United have had a summer of sea change. Several first-team squad members have left and Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez and, err, Tom Huddlestone have arrived at Old Trafford.
But there are still holes in the United squad – as was evidenced by new boss Erik ten Hag’s decision to play Eriksen in a false nine role in the 1-2 Premier League opening-day loss to Brighton on Sunday.
United are currently attempting to plug that centre-forward-shaped gap and reports suggest they have made a bid for Bologna’s experienced ex-West Ham attacker Marko Arnautovic.
But United were also chasing a younger, greener option in Red Bull Salzburg’s Benjamin Sesko, a 19-year-old Slovenian front man who has been compared to Erling Haaland.
According to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, however, that chase is over, with RB Leipzig having agreed a deal to take Sesko from their sister club.
“Man United had more than two meetings with [Sesko’s] agent,” Romano said in his latest YouTube video. “They have been leading the race for a long time.
“But then what happened? Man United had these meetings, Chelsea had a meeting with his agent last Sunday.
“But Red Bull Salzburg decided to keep the player for this summer and to sell the player directly for summer 2023, and Red Bull Leipzig [sic] have an agreement in principle with Red Bull Salzburg – same group, of course, Red Bull – for Benjamin Sesko.
“What happens? Red Bull Leipzig [sic] this week will complete the negotiation for Benjamin Sesko. The fee could be more than €20million, around [€]25[million], [€]27[million], but they are still discussing on the final fee – I’ll keep you posted.
“And so, what’s the plan? The plan is pretty clear: Benjamin Sesko stays at Red Bull Salzburg this summer, after Salzburg rejected the proposal from Leipzig to sign the player immediately. So, Sesko is joining summer 2023.”
The move represents more frustration in the summer market for United after the so-far unsuccessful pursuit of Frenkie de Jong.
De Jong is Ten Hag’s prime target but, for the moment, he refusing to leave his current club Barcelona, causing the Red Devils to turn their attention towards Juventus’ French midfielder Adrien Rabiot.
You can watch the full video report from Romano here.
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