Just a few weeks into his Manchester United career, Benjamin Šeško’s biggest challenge has quickly become clear.
Benjamin Šeško joined Manchester United from RB Leipzig this summer as part of the club’s push to bolster their attacking options at Old Trafford.
The 22-year-old striker, who had been a long-term target for United, arrived alongside Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, and Senne Lammens.
He made his first appearance as a second-half substitute against Arsenal and has since played in three more matches, starting only once.
Following his spell on international duty with Slovenia, Šeško could be in line for his first Premier League start when United face Manchester City away.
Shearer’s bizarre Šeško claim
Many supporters were confused as to why Šeško has not started in the Premier League so far, and also why he took the 10th penalty against Grimsby Town.
But those concerns were explained away by Ruben Amorim last week when he clarified that Šeško was being treated carefully after completing his first 90 minutes since April.
“He finished that [Grimsby] game with cramp, he was really in the limit, that’s why we protected Ben from the penalties,” Amorim said.
“And today [against Burnley] was that reason also, Josh is also a striker and I was thinking that Ben didn’t do 90 minutes in pre-season. He did that on Wednesday. I was not risking another player.”
Unfortunately, while everyone seems to talk about Manchester United, they don’t all actually do any research. Alan Shearer showcased that this week.
“What I didn’t understand is Sesko taking [the] No 10 penalty, which was crazy,” Shearer said on September 1, more than 48 hours after Amorim’s comments.
“And him not starting again yesterday [against Burnley] when clearly Man United what they needed and when you’re spending 70-odd million on a centre-forward and you’re not prepared to put him in there after being really, really average or an average start.”
Šeško’s biggest challenge is obvious
Šeško will have to worry about scoring goals, linking play and being a good striker for the team. But the biggest concern he – and any other United player – has is being able to physiologically deal with being at Old Trafford.
Shearer’s bizarre comments show that people don’t actually want the context with United, they simply want to criticise. It is madness that a pundit of Shearer’s level would make such strong claims without an ounce of research.
He was not the only one to criticise Šeško for simply getting cramp. It was everywhere in the media. Bare in mind he scored the penalty.
In the little amount we’ve seen of the 22-year-old, he’s looked sharp and his ability in the air is very exciting considering he’s working with one of the best crossers in the Premier League in Bryan Mbeumo.
But we’re going to eventually see how Šeško deals with the pressure and scrutiny of being Manchester United’s striker, and that will define how successful he can be.
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