Benjamin Sesko still worries Arsenal

Tom Weber

Updated: 19 Oct 2024 17:50 BST
4 min read

Benjamin Sesko is still struggling to be the game-changer he needs to be if he wants to sign for a top club.

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The Slovenian striker is one of Europe's most intriguing commodities, having been courted by Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd after a red-hot end to the previous campaign.

Sesko ultimately snubbed these Premier League giants to sign a new deal at RB Leipzig despite the fact that Arsenal felt that they had a good chance of landing him.

But so far in this still-young season, Sesko has illustrated that his decision to remain in Germany and to develop further was a shrewd one. The 21-year-old has notched six goals and three assists in 10 games this term, which on the face of it looks like a very good return.

However, these numbers don't quite tell the whole story.

Sesko still struggling

Sesko struggled to perform in the Bundesliga in the opening four games of the season, mustering just one shot per game and failing to score at all.

He seemed to finally overcome that issue when he broke his duck with an impressive brace against Augsburg, after which he vowed to better last season's tally of 18 goals.

But in the last two games, the Slovenian again failed to have much of an impact, with perhaps a personal low point of this nascent season coming on Saturday against Mainz.

Ultimately, it mattered little as Leipzig ran out comfortable 2-0 winners, but Sesko massively fluffed his lines one-on-one with goalkeeper Robin Zentner not once but twice in a matter of minutes.

For the first chance, Sesko pounced on a terrible backpass from a Mainz player and was clear in on goal, supported by two of his teammates. Xavi Simons was in acres of space for an easy tap-in, but instead of picking his head up, he attempted to nutmeg the keeper with a low effort and failed miserably.

A few minutes later, he was in again and tried to do the same with an identical outcome, shortly after which he was hooked by head coach Marco Rose. Sesko is not the type of striker to sulk when he misses chances, but he hasn't yet found his swagger this season.

There were signs of it against Augsburg when he rifled in shots without a second thought, just as he did last season, but Sesko has not looked entirely comfortable this term. Perhaps the pressure of wanting to impress Europe's elite is weighing too heavily.