Rejected Arsenal – Why Benjamin Sesko opted to stay at RB Leipzig

​

Slovenian star 

The interest was sky-high. Arsenal, in particular, pushed hard to sign RB Leipzig forward Benjamin Sesko this summer. But rather than leaving the Bundesliga for London, Sesko surprised the football world when he signed a new contract on June 12 that will run until the end of the 2029 season. “I had a good first year at RB Leipzig and am incredibly happy to be here. Team, club, city, fans – the overall package is simply outstanding for me,” Sesko said at the time. “The early contract extension was the logical next step for me.”

Indeed, the contract renewal made sense on many levels. Rather than rushing off to the Premier League, there was a general awareness among the Sesko camp and the RB Leipzig decision-makers that the striker needed more time to mature. After all, Sesko had played just one full campaign in one of Europe’s top competitions at that point. And despite scoring 14 goals and two assists in 31 Bundesliga games, there has been a feeling that Sesko needed to become more efficient. 

A glance in the Transfermarkt database underlines that Sesko, in fact, needed some time to adjust to life in the Bundesliga. The 21-year-old Slovenian striker finished the first half of the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign with just three goals in 17 games. It wasn’t until matchday 19 that Sesko fully exploded, seeing out the campaign with 11 goals in his last 16 Bundesliga games. In fact, Sesko finished the 2023/24 season by scoring in every single one of Leipzig’s last seven Bundesliga games.

That seven-goal run was followed up by a somewhat disappointing run at the Euros. Although Slovenia reached the round of 16, where they took Portugal all the way to penalties (3-0), Sesko would finish the tournament without a single goal or assist. “He had one big chance in the round of 16 to decide the game,” Marco Rose said to Gegenpressing this summer. “It is a situation we talk about a lot. He had a one-v-one with the goalkeeper, and he is fast enough to use his speed to go around the goalkeeper. And in the end, he missed. It is something that we will try to improve.”

That’s ultimately why Sesko opted to stay at Leipzig this season. “I mean, that’s why I decided to stay here,” Sesko said to Transfermarkt at the club’s training camp in New York City in August. “I know I have to develop more, and Leipzig is a good opportunity to do so. I feel like I have people backing me up.” But what exactly does Sesko need to improve to make the next step in his career? “We need to work with him a little bit on his first touch,” RB Leipzig managing director of sport Marcel Schäfer said to Transfermarkt. “If you want to be top, top, top, top and achieve the next level in every competition, the first touch is very important. If you have a good first touch, it gives you time and space. At the very top level, you don’t have space, and you don’t have time. That’s something he still has to improve on.” 

At the same time, Schäfer pointed out that Sesko has been working hard on his weaknesses this summer. “He has everything,” Schäfer said. “And we want to help him to achieve the next level of his full potential. In my opinion, he is a complete striker. He is tall, quick, has a good header, and is left- and right-footed.” These attributes are in high demand on the transfer market. If Sesko can make the next step this season, it will only be a matter of time before he becomes a major talking point in the Transfermarkt Rumor Mill in the upcoming transfer windows.