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"path": "/2026/03/29/chelsea-offered-give-74m-man-utd-star-anything-wanted-agree-transfer-27708829/",
"publishedAt": "2026-03-29T05:00:00.000Z",
"site": "https://metro.co.uk",
"tags": [
"Football",
"Sport",
"Benjamin Sesko",
"Chelsea FC",
"Chelsea transfer news",
"Manchester United",
"Manchester United Transfer News",
"Premier League",
"Transfer News and Rumours",
"Chelsea",
"Old Trafford",
"completed a £74m move to United last summer",
"The Sun",
"Sign up here",
"sanctioned a huge £74m deal for him last summer",
"questioned United’s summer signing following a subdued start to his United career",
"Michael Carrick",
"Ruben Amorim",
"https://www.instagram.com/p/DNJDWOBI8qM/?hl=en",
"believes he can be a ‘game-changing’ signing for his former club",
"Sky Sports podcast",
"check our sport page",
"Facebook",
"Twitter",
"Instagram",
"Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
],
"textContent": "Chelsea tried to sign the Manchester United star (Picture: Getty)\n\nChelsea made a tempting offer to sign Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko three years before his move to Old Trafford.\n\nSesko completed a £74m move to United last summer but that was not the first time the Slovenia international had attracted interest from the Premier League.\n\nManchester United chiefs held talks with Sesko’s representatives in the summer of 2022 after he burst onto the scene at Red Bull Salzburg.\n\nSesko scored 18 goals during his first full season in Salzburg, with his impressive form catching the eye of United.\n\nBut the Red Devils were not the only Premier League giant to express interest in Sesko, with Chelsea also launching a move in that summer, according to The Sun.\n\nManchester United’s head of recruitment Christopher Vivell was at Stamford Bridge at that time and admired Sesko following his previous spell with the Red Bull group.\n\nIt is claimed Chelsea’s interest in Sesko was so concrete they even offered the then-teenager ‘whatever he wanted’ to agree a move to west London.\n\n## Your football fix\n\n**Metro** 's Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy analysis, transfer talk and his take on the week's biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.\n\nSign up here, it's an open goal.\n\nManchester United’s £74m summer signing Benjamin Sesko (Picture: Getty)\n\nSesko and his agent decided to reject the interest from both Chelsea and Man United, however, believing it was too early for the forward to move to the Premier League.\n\nInstead he moved to Salzburg’s sister club RB Leipzig and continued to develop in Germany, scoring 39 goals across the next two seasons.\n\nManchester United kept tabs on Sesko throughout that period and sanctioned a huge £74m deal for him last summer.\n\nA number of pundits questioned United’s summer signing following a subdued start to his United career in which he scored just twice before Christmas.\n\nBut Sesko is one of a number of players benefitting from Michael Carrick’s return to United as caretaker boss, netting eight goals since Ruben Amorim’s sacking.\n\nTwo of those were crucial injury-time goals against Fulham and West Ham, while the most recent two were winners against Everton and Crystal Palace.\n\n> https://www.instagram.com/p/DNJDWOBI8qM/?hl=en\n\nManchester United legend Gary Neville has been impressed by Sesko’s development under Carrick and believes he can be a ‘game-changing’ signing for his former club.\n\n‘I have to say the goal from Benjamin Sesko is an absolute beauty,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast after the striker’s winner against Palace at the start of the month. ‘It’s a brilliant header, a proper header.\n\n‘He’s got confidence now and he got a start today which had to happen after his recent form. The confidence, the goals, the finishes… they’re some brilliant goals he’s scoring by the way.\n\nEx-Chelsea transfer guru Christopher Vivell (Picture: Getty)\n\n‘He’s definitely improved enormously. Michael Carrick never picked him in the team, he didn’t pick him in the team until today so he’s obviously had doubts about him in terms of not being right or not being quite there.\n\n‘The goal today is really good. I think he’s working Sesko into form and that’s a game-changer for Man United because they cannot have another centre-forward come to the club and fail. They just can’t.\n\n‘[Bryan] Mbeumo and [Matheus] Cunha have looked like United players from the start, just in terms of their confidence, power and strength.\n\n‘But now if Sesko can grow – and he already looks physically better and quicker – then that is a big, big thing.\n\n‘If Carrick can get the best out of him that means in the summer you can concentrate on other positions like in midfield with Casemiro leaving. You can concentrate maybe on a full-back and a centre-back because they do still have problems in those positions still that need dealing with.\n\n‘But maybe now you can leave the attacking players because you’ve got Sesko, Cunha, Mbeumo, Bruno, Amad, Mount – they will cause problems to any team.\n\n‘Michael Carrick has doubled or trebled the value of the United squad from where they were under Ruben Amorim. He’s made players that we doubted look like really good players.\n\n‘That will please the owners of course because there’s been so must waste it’s untrue. It’s a complete transformation.’\n\n**For more stories like this, check our sport page**.\n\n**Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on**Facebook,** Twitter and Instagram**.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
"title": "Chelsea offered to give £74m Man Utd star ‘anything he wanted’ to agree transfer"
}