{"id":85398,"date":"2025-08-15T18:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T18:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/85398\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T18:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T18:36:11","slug":"arsenal-found-something-very-interesting-about-benjamin-sesko-when-analysing-his-data-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/85398\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal found something very interesting about Benjamin Sesko when analysing his data this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Arsenal were close to signing Benjamin Sesko before they ultimately made a move for Viktor Gyokeres this summer.<\/p>\n

The Gunners\u2019 transfer priority heading into the window was to acquire a new number nine who could compete with Kai Havertz<\/a> for a starting place in Mikel Arteta\u2019s<\/a> team.<\/p>\n

After months of pursuing Sesko<\/a>, Andrea Berta backed out of a move for the 22-year-old, refusing to meet RB Leipzig\u2019s excessive asking price.<\/p>\n

Gyokeres signed for \u00a363 million<\/a> instead, with his Slovenian counterpart eventually moving to Manchester United for \u00a374 million.<\/p>\n

\"BenjaminPhoto by Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesWhat Arsenal noticed about Benjamin Sesko\u2019s data <\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta was supposedly obsessed with Sesko<\/a>, as were many in Arsenal\u2019s<\/a> recruitment team.<\/p>\n

However, Berta<\/a> took a different approach to the Spaniard and was unwilling to pay in excess of \u00a370 million for a player who might not help Arsenal win in the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n

The former RB Salzburg man is a project that needs developing, while Gyokeres<\/a> is more ready to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n

This is the conclusion that Berta came to, and according to journalist Miguel Delaney, the data supported this perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Arsenal\u2019s analytics had on Sesko and Gyokeres, the kind of data had them actually at a pretty similar level right now,\u201d Delaney said on the Second Captains podcast. <\/p>\n

\u201cGyokeres may be more dependable at the moment, but the big thing with Sesko is, he\u2019s got a much higher ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArsenal did do 18 months of work on Sesko.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was expected they would get him right up until May until there was a change in strategy related to the price, related to the way their transfer structure works. And the new sporting director, Andrea Berta, didn\u2019t want to go to that price on Sesko. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut of course, on the flip side of that was Gyokeres, yes, the language Arsenal used was on the here and now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why Gyokeres was signed. He\u2019s five years older than Sesko. He\u2019s more of a proven scorer, but as you say, not without red flags.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ViktorPhoto by Stuart MacFarlane\/Arsenal FC via Getty ImagesViktor Gyokeres vs Benjamin Sesko statistical comparison<\/p>\n

Sesko\u2019s data certainly isn\u2019t at a similar level to Gyokeres right now.<\/p>\n

The latter beats the former in almost every single metric, including goals, shots, expected goals, key passes and expected assists.<\/p>\n

That said, Gyokeres was performing in a less challenging league, and it\u2019s reasonable to assume that 22-year-old Sesko has a higher ceiling based on the statistics they\u2019ve produced throughout their respective careers.<\/p>\n

Statistical Comparison 2024\/25 (League Only)StatGyokeresSeskoAppearances3333Goals3913Assists75Shots per 904.082.5Expected Goals per 900.990.38Key Passes per 901.960.72Expected Assists per 900.220.06Benjamin Sesko vs Viktor Gyokeres Statistical Comparison 2024\/25 (League Only)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear from the data that Berta\u2019s verdict was correct; Gyokeres is the better player right now and can provide more value to Arsenal in the immediate short term, which is what the Gunners need.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether the Italian sporting director made the right decision, although the early signs from pre-season are encouraging for Arteta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal were close to signing Benjamin Sesko before they ultimately made a move for Viktor Gyokeres this summer.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[28983,403,99,5763],"class_list":["post-85398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-benjamin-sesko","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-viktor-gyokeres"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}