‘Control Freak’ Sesko Struggling to Settle at Man Utd

Ruben Amorim has labelled Manchester United summer signing Benjamin Sesko “a control freak” and has admitted that the striker is struggling to handle criticism from fans and pundits alike.

The Slovenian international moved to Old Trafford from RB Leipzig for £74m, signing a five-year contract. Highly regarded and thought of as one of the brightest young strikers in world football while in Germany, he scored 39 times in 87 games across all competitions and was the top goalscorer aged 23 or younger in Europe’s top five leagues.

The start of his career as a United player, though, has been very mixed. Through 10 Premier League games so far, Sesko has managed just two goals. Criticism has been levied at the 22-year-old by Gary Neville, who described how the forward looked “awkward” following the club’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest last week.

“He’s well off it compared to the other summer signings that Man United made up front in [Matheus] Cunha and [Bryan] Mbeumo,” the former Red Devil said. He went on to add, “For 80 million pound, you can say he’s young, has a lot of potential and is only just settling in, but you still want to see a bit more.”

Amorim Gives Thoughts on Sesko’s United Start

Amorim was asked to give his thoughts on Sesko’s start to life in England ahead of United’s match against Tottenham on Saturday afternoon. And he admitted that the forward was struggling with the weight of huge expectation that comes with leading the line for such a huge club.

“I’m relaxed. He’s not relaxed,” Amorim said. “I understand how things are in football and he’s going to struggle – that is normal.

“He has no experience here, and then the first impact when everyone says that you are so good, you are the next big thing – and you hear about that with Sesko – and then you come to one club that is the hardest club. If you don’t perform every week, you are going to hear a lot of things from club legends, from pundits, from the media, and sometimes they are right.

“So let’s embrace that. It’s not personal, it’s not nothing. That is what I try to explain to the players. That is not personal. It’s an opinion that is going to change in three weeks. Everything that is true today, in three weeks could be a lie.”

Despite Sesko’s struggles, GIVEMESPORT senior reporter Fabrizio Romano detailed in October that Amorim maintains full faith in the striker after his performance against Liverpool. And the Portuguese manager backed him publicly ahead of Saturday’s match.

He added: “Of course, it’s hard to hear. But my advice to Ben is you are going to get used to it, and then it’s going to be natural. It’s going to be like your Monday here.

“So that is part of the process and we are going to help him, and we are going to protect Ben because he works really hard and we want to succeed. So he’s going to succeed.

“When I start training with Ben, he has more potential than I was thinking. He’s going to struggle and we need to understand how he likes to play also to put in our ideas. He is going to be our striker for the long term. But he’s going to have these struggles and these bumps during the ride, and that is a normal thing in football.”