David Ornstein: Newcastle make €80m bid for RB Leipzig striker Sesko

Newcastle United have made an offer worth €80million for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko.

The bid is comprised of €75m up front with a further €5m in potential add-ons, and was tabled by Newcastle in the past 24 hours.

The Athletic reported on July 24 that Newcastle were considering a move for the 22-year-old in the event that Alexander Isak leaves the club, with the Swedish striker wanting a transfer this summer.

Newcastle have rejected a formal £110million offer from Liverpool for Isak but the Premier League champions retain a strong interest in the 25-year-old.

Manchester United are also interested in Sesko and the Slovenia striker is yet to make a firm decision on his preferred destination.

Sesko had been monitored by Arsenal before the north London side opted to pursue a move for Isak’s compatriot Viktor Gyokeres, who they signed last month in a deal worth €63.5million (£54.8m; $74.2m) plus €10m.

Chelsea had also admired Sesko for several years, though they moved to sign forwards Liam Delap and Joao Pedro earlier this summer.

Sesko’s Leipzig deal runs until 2029, having signed a new contract last year, which was expected to include a gentleman’s agreement that would allow him to leave for the right project. His previous deal contained a €65m release clause.

The Slovenia international joined Leipzig in 2023 from Red Bull Salzburg, with both clubs owned by the Red Bull GmbH conglomerate. He has made 87 appearances for Leipzig, scoring 39 goals and providing eight assists.

He made his senior Slovenia debut the day after his 18th birthday and has scored 16 goals in 41 games, representing his nation at the 2024 European Championship.

Liverpool had previously communicated their interest in doing a deal for Isak in the region of £120million ($162m) though Newcastle’s stance had been that the Swede was not for sale. Isak did not play in a friendly against Celtic or join the team’s pre-season tour of Asia, with the club stating that this was down to a minor thigh problem but sources, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to do so publicly, indicate the forward favoured being omitted with his future uncertain.

Isak is currently training alone at his former club Real Sociedad.

How did Sesko do in 2024-25?

Analysis by German football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor

Reasonably well, but it was not the season he needed to produce to assuage the doubts.

While his overall level of performance improved in the broader sense, with Sesko becoming more connected with the rest of the Leipzig side, his goalscoring numbers were down. He scored one fewer Bundesliga goal (13) in 2024-25 than he did the year before, despite playing almost an extra 900 minutes. He was never able to replicate that seven-game streak from the previous year, either, meaning that it felt underwhelming as a result, despite some eye-catching goals (particularly against Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena).

But Leipzig had a bad season. They sacked Marco Rose in March, limped to their lowest finish since being promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016 and only won one game of their eight Champions League games.

That’s valuable context. Nevertheless, consistency was still an issue for Sesko and the gap between his best performances and his worst, which is a historic criticism, remains too wide.

(Photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)