Newcastle make new Benjamin Sesko request - Report

When Eddie Howe asked for a quick and efficient transfer window, this has been perhaps the opposite of what he wanted.

With just two marquee names through the door, and with less than two weeks until the start of the Premier League campaign, more players are needed and fast.

RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko is certainly the one to watch, as the Slovenian striker is bound to leave the Bundesliga this window.

However, after over a week of negotiations, we’ve issued an ultimatum to the striker that could decide his future by the end of the week…

Wednesday warning issued to Sesko

According to talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs, Newcastle have told Sesko and his entourage that he has 48 hours to make up his mind about moving to the North East.

Writing on X, Jacobs posted “Newcastle now confident they can reach an agreement with Leipzig but have no plans to allow the saga to drag on to the latter part of this week without clarity.”

With Manchester United still firmly in the mix as a potential option, it’s no surprise why we want a clear answer now from the player on his preferred destination.

We already saw earlier this summer how much time was wasted trying to negotiate with the likes of Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Bryan Mbeumo when they only ever wanted a move to one of the ‘Big Six’.

Having actually submitted an offer to Leipzig already, we’re ’in the lead’ in the race to sign Sesko, but with how quickly the opening weekend against Villa is approaching, we need an answer from the 22-year-old and fast.

If not Sesko, who else?

Should we get told bad news by Sesko and his team in the next 48 hours, then it puts us in an even more precarious situation in the transfer market.

Granted, it would have spared us time and resources trying to convince the player to join in an ultimately pointless endeavour, which we can now commit to searching for someone else.

But it drastically reduces our options for attacking options, and further tarnishes our reputation in the eyes of other players and clubs for missing out on yet another player to a perceived ‘bigger’ club.

Ollie Watkins would be the most natural option to next pursue, but Villa have their own depth issues and would likely ask for an even bigger fee considering how close to the start of the season we are.

And concerning Sesko? If he picks Manchester United after all this time, and with how committed we’ve shown ourselves to basically handing him a free pass to becoming our starting no.9 for years to come, then Eddie Howe will be left scratching his head further over just what he and the recruitment team could possibly do to convince players to join a club in the Champions League and ready for another season of quality football.