Liverpool risk repeating Nunez mistake as they join race for Man Utd target

Tom Weber

• Updated: 16 Feb 2024 15:31 GMT
• 4 min read

Liverpool have joined the race to sign Benjamin Sesko, according to German media.

The RB Leipzig striker is one of Europe's most in-demand players and actually has been for some time. Man Utd tried to land him for two summers only for him to join the sister club of his erstwhile employers RB Salzburg.

The likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan are all said to be keeping an eye on the 20-year-old, who was at one point likened to none other than Erling Haaland, having followed a similar career path to Germany via Austria and having regularly found the net in a similarly prolific fashion.

At Leipzig, however, the youngster has had something of a rough awakening. In addition to Sesko, the Red Bulls also signed Lois Openda for a club-record fee in the summer and the Belgian has been the undisputed first-choice centre-forward for coach Marco Rose. In the early stages of the season, Sesko was merely a substitute.

Since the end of the winter break, the Slovenia international has been a regular starter. Against Real Madrid, Sesko was heavily involved but his finishing left a lot to be desired. 10 goals in 28 games is a decent return, but as FootballTransfers explained after his Champions League performance, the striker is yet to regularly show up in big games.

Liverpool join Sesko race

This resembles Darwin Nunez, who has found it tough to reach his former levels in the Premier League regularly. While some of the criticism of the Uruguayan has been unfair, he has so far not done enough to justify the whopping transfer fee Liverpool shelled out to land him.

Sesko will be available for €50 million in the summer due to a release clause in his Leipzig deal. According to BILD, Liverpool and Man City have now joined the race for the Slovenian, but the former side in particular would risk repeating their Nunez mistake. It is doubtful whether Sesko is ready for the Premier League at this point.

Any club ready to trigger his exit clause is essentially paying for potential, which is significant, mind. Sesko could very well develop into an elite striker, but for Liverpool, he may not yet be enough of a finished product to become the face of the post-Jurgen Klopp era.