Playing for Manchester United, one of the biggest, if not THE biggest club in the world is obviously a pressure cooker. The pressure gets ramped up even more when you’re a $100,000,000 man, and you’re playing a position at a club where they have recently seen a substantial amount of expensive flops. Benjaim Sesko is all of these things, as he was brought over from RB Leipzig for £73 million ($99m) this past summer. United paid a high price for Sesko, as well as Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, for the purpose of trying to fix the club’s worst on-the-pitch issue- scoring goals.
The list of names brought in for this very reason is long, and it’s a who’s who of expensive flops- Rasmus Hojlund, Antony, Jadon Sancho, Memphis Depay, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez.
So when Sesko got off to a very slow start, with only two goals during his first five months at the club, it is easy to understand why cynicism abounded. It also didn’t help that the manager under which he was bought, Ruben Amorim, integrated him into the team extremely slowly. It was diffcult to understand why Amorim took so long to fully utilize Sesko, but he’s long sacked now, and the 22-year-old Slovenian is thriving under interim manager Michael Carrick.
Sesko scored the game winner at Everton last night, and he helped salvage a point for United the previous weekend, scoring the equalizer in a score draw with West Ham. He now has six goals in his last seven games, and he referred to the pressure he feels as “a privilege.”
Cunha said the exact same thing in July, at the club’s first media opportunity of their preseason tour of America. United participated in the Premier League Summer Series, along with West Ham, Everton and AFC Bournemouth.
“For me, the way I look at the pressure it’s something that, if I want to be a good player, it’s something that I have to have,” Sesko said.
“I take it as a privilege. It’s something that has [to be there] if you want to play at the highest level and it’s about accepting it and not really caring about it.”
Sesko is now second on the team in scoring, with seven goals on the season. Cunha is tied with Bruno Fernandes for third on the team in scoring (with six goals). Mbeumo leads the way with nine goals scored on the season. Sesko also discussed his ever evolving role with the club, and his conversing with Carrick on this topic.
“We are talking of course but [Carrick] believes in me, everyone believes in me, they are getting me ready to start as soon as possible,” he said.
“It’s more about me showing up when it’s important, no matter how many minutes I’m getting I’m focusing on delivering and trying to help the team secure the wins.
“I’m not even thinking about ‘I have to start, I have to start.’ If I get the next minutes, five minutes, I’m going to use them and for me and it’s just about trying to enjoy and delivering for the team.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.