Ruben Amorim is generally not one to hype up his own players, so his admission about one player in his ranks that he has even more potential than he first thought is certainly noteworthy.
By now, Man Utd fans are well aware of the usual “Ruben Amorim-isms” at the club.
“We need to win the next game”, “he can be so much better”, and “We are going to suffer”, for example, are three statements that can be heard from him in nearly every interview.
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So for him to say that one of his players has even more potential than he first thought is a huge statement of confidence in a player who really needs it as well.
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty ImagesRuben Amorim makes Benjamin Sesko admission
Benjamin Sesko has had quite an interesting start to life at Man Utd, because those who watch the game can see there’s an exciting prospect there.
Still, he has unfairly become the lightning rod for criticisms around the media landscape by pundits desperate for clicks and sensationalism.
From Gary Neville hammering Sesko unfairly after the game against Brighton, to doubling it down after Nottingham Forest, where the striker genuinely struggled, Sesko has had a baptism by fire at Old Trafford.
Perhaps this is what prompted Amorim to launch a passionate defence of the Slovenian when asked about his impact at the club.
Amorim said that Sesko is a “control freak” who works really hard, which is why he is going to succeed, with his potential even catching the Man Utd manager by surprise.
He said: “To have the ability to understand that is normal and still maintain your level of confidence is really hard for a young kid, especially for a young kid who is a control freak, wants to control everything, and he’s not going to control everything.
“So, I know, and I say that when I start training with Ben, he has more potential than I was thinking. He’s going to struggle, and we need to understand how he likes to play also to put in our ideas.
“We are going to help him, we are going to protect Ben because he works really hard and he wants to succeed, so he’s going to succeed.”
Sesko’s fundamentals are encouraging
Sesko is being unfairly compared to Rasmus Hojlund this season because there’s malice in that comparison.
Hojlund’s exploits in Italy are being compared to Sesko’s in England, when the Danish striker struggled even more in the same place.
The key differentiator is that, for Hojlund, the goals masked a lack of all-around development, which is why he seemed hungry for it and looked lost when he wasn’t scoring.
In Sesko’s case, the goals, when they come, will be the final icing on the cake, because his fundamentals and all-around game are up to par already.
Even when he’s not scoring, Sesko finds ways to contribute either by linking up the play or unsettling defences with his movement.
Against Forest, he had a sloppy game but still found himself at the end of a couple of good chances, which indicates that he’s still managing to get involved.
A striker cannot be a “+1” burden on the team when he’s not scoring, which Sesko isn’t. The goals will start flowing soon as well.