Head trainer Ruben Amorim was set to hugely boost his team’s goal tally, having netted only 44 in the league campaign last season, their lowest since being demoted in 1973-74.
Sesko will join Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo as summer’s third attacking addition, though centre midfield continues to be a problem for United, with one or two question marks over each of the available candidates to fill either of those two spots.
And that has prompted the club to try, discreetly, to determine what terms would be required to sign Cameroon midfielder Carlos Baleba from Brighton. BBC Sport examines the complicated problem of United’s midfield.
Amorim’s set-up features two deeper midfielders, wing-backs who tuck high up the pitch, two inside forwards and a striker. Sesko is expected to be the striker, Matheus Cunha leading him on the left, and Bryan Mbeumo on the right.
That would leave skipper Bruno Fernandes to operate one of the deeper midfield roles. Now, Fernandes is a lot of things, but a box-to-box midfielder isn’t one of them. Fernandes enjoys freelancing. He enjoys getting on the ball. He enjoys having areas of space where he can accept a pass.
But the 30-year-old Portugal international isn’t a man you would expect to be alive to the threat. He isn’t a man who is going to make a 10-yard burst in preparation for closing down space.
This appears to be an issue, even if it was something Amorim dismissed when I questioned him last week on the very issue concerning his midfield in Chicago.
“Bruno runs a lot,” he said. “Perhaps in the sprint, he’s a different player, but he runs a lot. He has a lot of endurance. He’s clever. So it is not about that. Bruno’s physicality is not the issue. He’s prepared for the physicality, playing deep or midfield.”
If that were true, why would United be making discreet enquiries on Baleba? After all, the Brighton player is as much a box-to-box midfielder, an energy and stamina player who can pass and tackle. More to the point, he is exactly the type of player Amorim does not possess in his team.
The closest Amorim gets to him is Manuel Ugarte, but the Uruguay midfielder has yet to demonstrate he is worth the £50.8m United paid Paris St-Germain for him. Ugarte, sitting on the bench for last May’s Europa League final loss to Tottenham, spoke for itself on the 24-year-old’s performance.
In Atlanta on Sunday, Ugarte had the ball out of his penalty box when he was brought down and lost the ball. Everton quickly counter-attacked and Idrissa Gueye equalised. That is the weakness of Ugarte; he does not read danger and allows himself to be challenged in spaces of massive danger to his team.
Casemiro is much less likely to do so. The Brazilian possesses all the experience and guile Amorim requires. He preferred to play with Fernandes at Bilbao.
But it has been proved at 33, Casemiro can no longer move around the pitch as he once did – and whether he had to run much in his heyday is questionable since he played in a midfield that included Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, who were hardly profligate in possession.
United did bring in Kobbie Mainoo. But when he was discussing his team in America recently, Amorim likened the qualities of England international Fernandes to those of the asset Mainoo. Mainoo’s strength is carving out space and threatening the opposition’s goal.
It is interesting to note that when Mainoo played in the Euro 2024 final, he played in one of the midfield positions in the same system Amorim uses. But beside him was Declan Rice, who is arguably one of the best deep midfielders in the world.
United’s best player in the current squad to fill the role is 21-year-old Toby Collyer. But it is highly unlikely Collyer would be picked over Casemiro, for example, regularly, and anyway, the former Brighton academy player will be going out on loan this summer.
