Benjamin Sesko's agent gives insight into Manchester United transfer

'Ruthless' - Benjamin Sesko's agent gives insight into Manchester United transfer

Man Utd confirmed the signing of Benjmain Sesko last weekend and the player's agent has reflected on his move.

Sesko was unveiled last weekend. (Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images.)

Benjamin Sesko's agent believes Manchester United employee Matt Hargreaves is a "ruthless negotiator".

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Hargreaves was appointed as the director of football negotiations at United in July 2023. The former Adidas chief is responsible for transfers and contracts at Old Trafford.

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Representatives have spoken glowingly about Hargreaves and have praised his understanding of players, the football business and negotiations, so he is seen as a valuable employee.

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Hargreaves attempts to obtain value in negotiations and Sesko's agent, Elvis Basanovic, described him as "ruthless" when he recently sat down in Slovenia to provide insight into his client's move to Manchester.

Sesko arrived at Old Trafford for a fee of €76.5million (£66.4m) and €8.5m (£7.3m) in add-ons last weekend. He signed a five-year contract and could make his debut against Arsenal.

Basanovic spoke to Slovenian channel POP TV to discuss what happened behind the scenes.

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"It's hard to say exactly. Whenever a deal doesn't go through, there are always several factors. In the end, everything has to align for it to happen," he said about why Sesko didn't join Arsenal.

"What is important here is that Benjamin’s wish for years now has always been Manchester United - and he was even willing to take a pay cut to make the move happen. As his agent, I wanted to make that wish come true.”

Basanovic continued: "We were in contact with Man United's negotiations director, Matt Hargreaves, who was a ruthless negotiator. In the last 10/15 days, they followed my every step.

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"And the talks took place in three different countries and six different cities. We visited Manchester United's academy back in 2018 when Benjamin was just 15. Even then, we were planning this move for the future. At the time, we didn't want him to so young.

"In recent years, we stayed in contact. But we told them our plan - two years in the Bundesliga to prepare for the future in the Premier League. We're delighted the plan worked."

After Aston Villa reiterated Ollie Watkins was not for sale, United turned their attention to Sesko. This summer was earmarked for a move away from Leipzig for Sesko, who attracted interest from Arsenal at the beginning of the window.

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United were interested in signing Sesko in the summer of 2022 and his agent visited Carrington, but the forward decided to sign for Leipzig from the fellow Red Bull franchise FC Salzburg.

Sesko is regarded as one of Europe's most exciting young centre-forwards. He scored 39 goals in 87 appearances for Leipzig and has netted 16 goals in 41 games for Slovenia's national team.

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