Benjamin Sesko is a wanted man this summer. The RB Leipzig star is attracting interest from the Premier League after an impressive season in the Bundesliga.
The 21-year-old scored 18 goals in 42 appearances in the 2023/24 campaign and that has led to links with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. The Gunners are keen to strengthen their squad during the summer transfer window, football.london understands, with the forward line among the areas considered a priority to address.
Given his age and huge potential, Sesko is a player who is admired by Edu and Mikel Arteta. However, the Gunners have a fight on their hands to sign the Slovenian, who has a £55million release clause in his contract
According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano the player is currently assessing all of his options and will make a decision on his future in the coming weeks. “Benjamin Sesko, taking some more days to decide his future,” Romano said on social media platform X.
“There’s still new contract proposal from RB Leipzig on the table. Meanwhile, Sesko said no to €30million net salary from Saudi. Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea have all approached Sesko since March/April.”
Interestingly, Sesko has already rejected two “crazy proposals” from clubs playing in the Saudi Pro League. This in itself perhaps speaks volumes of Sesko’s personal goals and ambition for his career.
Instead of being lured to Saudi Arabia to play with top class players in the twilight of their careers such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Sadio Mane, Sesko appears to see his future in Europe playing in the world’s biggest leagues. This is likely to be music to the ears of Arteta, who will be eyeing another Premier League title challenge at Arsenal next season.
The Arsenal boss was asked about the club’s summer transfer plans last week and the Spaniard gave little away. “[We] look again,” Arteta told CNN when asked about transfers. “All the margins, squad-wise, the process that we have at the football club, our methodology, especially on how we can make our players better, more competitive, more consistent and cause them to raise the level and be better than the previous season
“I think our focus has to be with what we have already in house. How can we be better? There are margins and there are players that can still develop and be better and that’s the objective that we have.
“Every decision we’re going to make is to be better, without losing who we are and everything that is taking us in the position that we are now as a football club, as a team. The ambition is there. The players, the staff. You can sense it. They want much more. They want to start lifting trophies and that’s the next step.”
The Gunners will travel to the United States in July for a pre-season tour, with games against Manchester United and Liverpool already pencilled in. Speaking in his final pre-match press conference before the summer transfer window opens, Arteta admitted he is keen for new signings to be completed as early as possible.
“That’s the ideal scenario,” he said when asked if Arsenal were hopeful of getting their business done at the start of the window. “Every club wants that, we want that as coaches and for the players especially. Then for the team and for the environment. When you do that something clicks there and it’s really important because it starts to give you momentum.”
With Sesko part of Slovenia’s Euro 2024 squad travelling to Germany this month, it remains to be seen when a deal could be completed. For now, this is very much one to watch.
