Arsenal have struck gold on "magnificent" star worth way more than Sesko

The season may have only come to an end a few weeks ago, but silly season is in full effect, and it looks set to be a big one for Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s side ended up finishing second in the Premier League for the third campaign on the bounce this year, and that failure to become champions appears to have motivated the club to get busy in the market.

For example, after much confusion over a supposed hijack from Real Madrid, David Ornstein reaffirmed Martin Zubimendi’s imminent move to North London, and after missing out on Joan Garcia, Andrea Berta and Co appear to have secured the services of Kepa Arrizabalaga for just £5m – which is undeniably great business for a second choice goalkeeper.

However, what most Arsenal fans want more than anything else this summer is a new striker, and the most likely candidate at the moment is Benjamin Sesko, although if he does join the club, he’ll have a valuation substantially lower than one of his competitors for game time.

Why Arsenal want Sesko

So, based on reports from the last few weeks, it appears that the price Arsenal will have to pay for Sesko will be around £67m.

The question is, then, is he worth such an outlay? Yes, yes, he is.

The first reason why is that, as he’s only just turned 22 years old, there is still so much room for him to further develop, and under Arteta’s tutelage, there is no reason he couldn’t get better and better.

Secondly, the former Salzburg gem is the perfect combination of physical and technical attributes for a modern striker.

For example, he’s 6 foot 5 and able to hit speeds of 35.69 km/h while also being great with the ball at his feet, with FBref placing him in the top 8% of forwards in the Bundesliga for percentage of successful take-ons and the top 11% for outright successful take-ons, all per 90.

Finally, on top of that, the Radeče-born poacher is already producing a decent number of goal involvements, scoring 21 goals and providing six assists in 45 games across all competitions this season.

In all, Sesko looks like he’ll be more than worth the fee being reported, and yet even then, his valuation is far lower than that of one of his potential new teammates at Arsenal.

The Arsenal star worth millions more than Sesko

While they are yet to get over the line in any competition, this Arsenal team is stacked with brilliant players, from Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka to William Saliba and Martin Odegaard.

However, in this case, the player worth millions more than Sesko is someone who can sometimes divide opinion among fans and pundits alike: Kai Havertz.

Yes, whatever you may think of the German international, he was valued at an astounding €130m by the CIES Football Observatory earlier this year, which converts to around £110m, or about £43m more than the reported price of Sesko.

Now, that might seem a little unfair on the Slovenian ace, especially as he has a marginally better average of 0.60 goal involvements per game to Havertz’s 0.55, but in defence of the Gunners’ ace, he is playing in statistically the toughest league in world football and did miss most of the second half of the season through injury.

Moreover, when we take a look under the hood and at their respective underlying numbers from this season, we see that the former Chelsea ace comes out on top.

For example, the “magnificent” dynamo, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, does far better in most relevant metrics, such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, shots, shot-creating actions, passing accuracy, key passes and more, all per 90.

Finally, it’s also worth noting that the Aachen-born international has spent some time in midfield and will likely play many more games there next season should the Leipzig star arrive.

Ultimately, Sesko would be a fantastic signing, and it looks like he has the raw materials to be truly special, but Arsenal fans shouldn’t forget that they’ve already got a brilliant attacker in Havertz.

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