Manchester United have trimmed their striking options to two, with Ollie Watkins and Benjamin Sesko emerging as their main targets. But which one would INEOS prefer to sign?
The Red Devils are in the process of building a new-look attack. They are already two-thirds into the project, having acquired Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. However, their attacking trident remains incomplete without a top-notch striker, as the out-of-sorts Rasmus Hojlund has seemingly lost his finishing touch and might need some time to rediscover his best form.
Therefore, the management is now primarily focused on landing a new centre-forward.
Man Utd trim down attacking options to two
According to several sources in the British media, including The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell and the Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst, Man Utd have now limited their choices to just two in Watkins and Sesko, while other candidates like Nicolas Jackson have been ruled out of the race.
Hence, the question that poses itself is which one would be United’s preferred option? The 29-year-old Englishman from Aston Villa, or the up-and-coming Slovenian who made a name for himself at RB Leipzig.
While there hasn’t been an explicit answer, several factors indicate that Watkins could be the favourite in MUFC’s book.
Three reasons why Man United prefer Watkins over Sesko
First of all, Sky Sport DE journalist Florian Plettenberg reported that week that Ruben Amorim would prefer to sign a striker with Premier League experience. Hence, he should look no further than the Aston Villa star who has 184 EPL appearances in his repertoire, with 75 goals and 36 assists. On the other hand, Sesko has yet to step foot in a Premier League contest.
Secondly, Whitwell talks about the pre-existing relationship between Watkins and Mbeumo, dating back to their time at Brentford in 2019/20. The two attackers hit 40 goals between them during that Championship campaign.
| Stats in 2024/25 | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Ollie Watkins | 54 | 17 | 14 |
| Benjamin Sesko | 45 | 21 | 6 |
Finally, Man Utd believe the Villans would be willing to sell Watkins for £40-45 million despite publicly stating that the striker is not for sale. On the other hand, Leipzig are valuing Sesko at £75 million.
Therefore, we might be able to deduce from these factors that Man United would rather sign the England international than the younger Slovenian.
Watkins would be a good fit for Manchester United but the transfer would have to be at the right price due to his age plus Know more ludicrous wage demands. You cannot move players On if there wages are to high and other clubs cannot afford to sign them due to there wages .
Looking at Watkin’s age and injury history might be a shot term project long. wish the club should go for a young and energic striker if fund is available. Sesko is comparison to Haalan and G. Viktor of Arsenal.
Manchester United, we have already set the SAF standard, EPL proven in Cunha and Mbeumo, Watkins should complete the frontline.
Reported asking prices from authoritative sources are £45m for Watkins and £70m, plus around £5m add-ons, for Sesko.
In two years, at age 31, Watkins will be worth no more than £20m. In the same timeframe, Sesko is equally likely to have gained value as to have lost value. That means the price differential is essentially zero in two years. There’s performance risk with Sesko (which is very hard to price) but Watkins could be only one injury away from forced retirement, so there’s plenty of risk there, too.
I rejected Sesko a year ago because he was too similar in profile to Hojlund, but that now makes him a decent choice (assuming we sell Hojlund, which we definitely should). And RB Leipzig are easier to deal with than Villa.
Given we now have Cunha and Mbeumo, I’d narrowly pick Sesko, but Watkins would be OK. I think it comes down to a fine balance of performance risk, fitness risk, cash availability and, of course, player/club preferences and negotiations.
At least we’re not chasing Jackson, which would have been a disaster, IMHO – we just got rid of some over-sized egos, so why bring in another one?