Manchester United signed Benjamin Sesco after signing several strikers in the summer. After reviewing the data, I chose him ahead of Victor Gokeres.
Manchester United opted to sign Benjamin Sesko ahead of Viktor Gökeres in the summer after a data-driven approach suggested the Slovenian was a better fit.
The Red Devils were always looking to add firepower in the summer and were linked with several strikers. Ruben Amorim was naturally linked due to his history with Victor Gokeres, who was prolific at Sporting Lisbon, but the Swede left for Arsenal.
United snapped up Sesco for £74 million after a transfer battle with Newcastle, but his running meters proved crucial to the decision, The Times reports. This is an area of growth the club is targeting, and its approach is being led by summer hire Mike Sansoni, who joined the club as data director after spending 11 years with the Mercedes F1 team.
Sansoni is working closely with Wilcox to drive United to become “a completely data-driven club that is successful on and off the pitch”. He has access to a data model that can list data for tens of thousands of players.
This kid believes they are one of the leaders in their field, which ultimately led to the deal with Sesco. The jury is still out on the former RB Leipzig frontman, but those concerns are not shared by those in Manchester.
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He has only scored two goals for the club. Gökeres has endured similar criticism after a slow start in which he scored four goals. But Amorim and others were pleased with his movement off the ball and his attitude this week was that of a player determined to make his mark.
Sesco, Brian Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha have all expressed interest in joining the Manchester squad, which was also seen as a big plus. Newcastle were also interested in Mbeumo, who had a separate offer from Tottenham, and Sesco could head to St James’ Park.
Amorim accepts that Sesco will be concerned about his form, but he has confidence in the striker. “I’m relaxed, he’s not. I understand what’s going on in football, but he’s going to struggle. That’s normal. He doesn’t have the experience here.”
“Ben is a young kid and a control freak. He wants to control everything, but he’s not going to control everything. He has more potential than I thought (but) we need to understand how he likes to play and we also need to incorporate our ideas.”
“I’m very relaxed about it. He’s going to be our long-term striker, but he’s going to have some struggles and bumps along the way. That’s normal in football.”
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