With Champions League football on the horizon next season, Newcastle United might have been expecting an easier ride in the summer transfer window.
The £52million acquisition of Anthony Elanga is an exciting one, another electric wide player to add firepower to their sweeping, transitional style. But their efforts to acquire a new centre-forward — knocked back by Liverpool-bound Hugo Ekitike, beaten to it by Chelsea for Joao Pedro — have taken a desperate turn this week, with news of Alexander Isak’s dissatisfaction at the club suddenly leaving Eddie Howe’s side looking a little light up top.
Whether Isak actually moves on is another matter entirely, with only a small number of clubs able to afford the Sweden international, much less realistically fit him into their starting XI, and offer the step up that he craves. That said, should Newcastle receive their nine-figure fee, all indications are that they will go all in for RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, in a much-needed attempt to make a statement of their own.
A move for the 22-year-old would not be completely unprecedented. Newcastle first tried to tempt Sesko away from his previous club, Red Bull Salzburg, back in 2022 — even before they had signed Isak — and believe his profile suits the manager’s demands.
Multiple sources from within the club, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, have previously told The Athletic that they “love” Sesko as a player, or would at least have loved to be in a financial position to do that deal. For better or for worse, those wishes could be about to come true.
So, just what is it about Sesko that appeals to Newcastle’s recruitment team? And, crucially, could he eventually replicate Isak’s incredible impact at the club?
Standing tall at 6ft 5in (195 cm), equipped with a vicious shooting technique and strength in the air, it’s tempting to quickly put Sesko down as a target man; the kind of No 9 who rarely strays from the width of the posts, and thrives on a diet of crosses, knock-downs and instinctive finishes in the box.
But Sesko is much more mobile than his towering physique suggests, an able channel runner and a powerful spearhead figure on the counter-attack, surprisingly smooth in his dribbling and happy to drift into midfield to help progress the play.
As we can see with the help of SkillCorner, comparing the frequency with which he makes different runs with 184 other centre-forwards across Europe’s top seven leagues, Sesko was prepared to drop off and come towards the ball last season, comfortable with his back to goal and generally tidy when it comes to linking up play. He was also happy to attack the space behind, fairly balanced in his efforts to impact the game without the ball.
Those numbers, however, don’t tell the full story.
RB Leipzig sacked manager Marco Rose in late March, as the club ended the Bundesliga season with 24 fewer goals than the previous campaign. They struggled to progress the ball cleanly through midfield, with a rotating cast of players unable to stamp their authority in the middle, seeing the talented attacking trio of Sesko, Xavi Simons, and Lois Openda drop deep more often to help drag the team forward with direct, individual play.
All three recorded considerably more touches of the ball in the middle third, while the quantity of Sesko’s runs in behind dropped by over 31 per cent, unable to be as direct as he usually likes to be with his movement. Along with that, the number of shots Sesko took inside the box fell from 2.6 to 1.6 per game, while the rate at which he scored almost halved.
Though his tally dipped, Sesko still managed 13 league goals, a respectable haul for a striker who only recently turned 22, in his second-ever season in one of Europe’s top five leagues. And that’s without considering the circumstances. The 2024-25 season was an education for Sesko, having to vary his off-ball movement, drop deeper to progress play, but still able to rely on his forward momentum and ferocious shooting ability to get in among the goals.
Restore that regular service to Sesko on the transition, and his output is sure to swell.
Delving into the tape and Sesko’s frequent forays into midfield last season still provided glimpses of the destruction he can cause.
Though not as silky as someone like Isak when he gets on the ball, Sesko is just as positive and forward-thinking with his dribbling, attempting — and completing — a similar number of take-ons per game to the Swede in league football last year.
Here he is, for example, away at Wolfsburg, spinning away from David Odogu with a neat turn, before powering down the flank and clipping the ball onto Openda’s chest in the box.
Wing play isn’t Sesko’s usual game, but he is very happy to cut inside and shoot whenever he gets the chance from the opposite flank.
Below against Frankfurt, we see his confidence to drive at goal and take on an audacious shot, tipped over the bar by Kevin Trapp. But it’s the speed and control of the step-overs, keeping the ball close to his body as he unbalances defender Robin Koch with a quick shimmy, that is unusual, and so exciting for a player of his height and imposing physical frame.
Sesko’s bread and butter, however, is the counter-attack, a player who loves to pick up the scraps of opposition attacks before driving through the disorganised defence.
He opened the scoring against Atletico Madrid back in September, picking up the ball after a blocked shot and stomping forward. His first touch is perfect to set him on his way, before showing terrific pace to leave three back-tracking midfielders in his wake, and squeezing the ball through to Openda for a shot.
Jan Oblak makes the save, but Sesko follows it up with a strong leap to out-jump Robin Le Normand, showcasing another strength of his power forward profile.
RB Leipzig take an early lead away at Atletico Madrid through Benjamin Sesko 🔥
That counter-attack though 👀
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/3pwVyt6Mcf
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 19, 2024
Only Liverpool generated more expected goals (xG) from fast break situations than Newcastle last season. With talented full-speed attackers in Anthony Gordon and Elanga, and a balanced, combative midfield trio further back, Sesko would have the platform to flourish.
Despite all of the above, the real excitement surrounding Sesko centres on his ball-striking ability, capable of generating serious power on either side.
When he gets it right, few players can hit a ball so sweetly, thumping home three goals from outside the penalty area last campaign. A spectacular, outside-of-the-boot finish on the break against Bayern Munich stole the headlines towards the end of the season, but this thunderbolt below at home against Werder Bremen demonstrated his technique best, lacing the ball into the top corner before goalkeeper Michael Zetterer had much chance to move.
As we can see from his shot-map below, Sesko has performed well above expectation in Germany, largely driven by his ability from range. He has netted close to nine goals more than the quality of his shots would suggest the average striker should score with his chances, pointing to a striker who can find goals even when the chances don’t regularly come his way.
Still, Sesko’s ability from range can be as much of a blessing as it can be a curse, often informing poor decision-making as his excitement to hit the ball clouds his judgement.
His mazy run against Union Berlin below is a fine example of all Sesko can do well; picking up the ball in midfield and barging his way into a promising position, even producing a slick nutmeg to keep his momentum going. But Sesko’s head is down, opting to hammer the ball with his left foot, and failing to spot the lung-busting run of David Raum on the outside.
Sesko’s sheer persistence to get a shot away often sees him try to force the issue, trusting that the power on his shots will take it through defenders and cause the goalkeeper problems. Close to one-third of his shots from outside the box were blocked last season, often lacking awareness of better options around him.
It’s a trait that’s proven to be frustrating for team-mates on a number of occasions, with an extreme example here against Wolfsburg. Again, Sesko does extremely well to swat away the challenge and burst into a dangerous area, but elects to shoot from a tight angle and with a defender in the way, much to the displeasure of Ridle Baku, who had checked his run in the middle.
Sesko also has work to do with his one-vs-one finishing, often too predictable when he’s bearing down on goal with just the goalkeeper to beat. He almost exclusively favours the side-footed placement shot into the far corner, but often allows the goalkeeper to read his intentions as he opens up his body.
There was a high-profile miss against Portugal at the Euros, as well as this poor attempt away at Mainz, signposting his finish to Robin Zentner, while inexplicably turning down the pass to Simons to make it three.
It’s an unusually bad example, and not the kind of thing that Sesko should be judged upon — he is, statistically, one of Europe’s most clinical finishers after all. But it represents the moments of inexperience that are still evident in Sesko’s game. He is a young, developing centre-forward who will continue to make mistakes, and leave team-mates exasperated with his one-track mind in front of goal.
Even with that in mind, Sesko’s freakish physical profile and prodigious ball-striking ability still mean that he is likely worth the risk. His potential is sky-high, not only potentially game-breaking when given the chance to attack open spaces, but dangerous in the area too; tall, powerful, and able to attack set-pieces and crash home rebounds with force.
No team scored more goals from open-play crosses than Newcastle last season — adding one of the world’s tallest strikers, with an eye-catching ability to spring above defenders, is not going to hurt in that regard.
He is a different prospect to Isak, more physical, stronger, and would enable Newcastle to take the more direct route to goal. But with his rare combination of attributes, more agile and powerful than anyone of his age or his height should be, Sesko could soon be just as uniquely devastating.
(Top photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
