Benjamin Sesko’s agent has opened up on the striker’s move to Manchester United after a proposed transfer to Arsenal fell through.
The Slovenia international completed his £73million move to Old Trafford last week after turning down an offer to join Newcastle United.
The 22-year-old has been one of the most coveted young strikers in Europe for a number of years with Arsenal identifying him as a top target. After failing to agree a deal with the player and RB Leipzig, the Gunners turned their attention to Viktor Gyokeres, signing the Sweden international for £63m.
Arsenal were unhappy with the structure of the transfer fee proposed by Leipzig, also encountering problems with Sesko’s camps over personal terms.
Elvis Basanovic, the agent behind the move, sat down with Slovenian channel POPoln kanal to discuss the move, asked if his own personal demands or Sesko’s led to Arsenal walking away from the deal.
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Basanovic said: ‘I think, it’s hard to say now. Whenever the business doesn’t go through, there are many different factors that influence that
‘I think it was also important that Benjamin’s desire was to leave, for some years now for Manchester United. And we saw that Benjamin was also willing to accept a slightly lower wage in the case of Manchester United, that I myself was also prepared to accept a lower commission.
‘It was simply a desire, and somehow Benjamin’s dreams, as well as our dreams, that something like this happens and we are really happy. I believe it wouldn’t be correct to discuss and talk. We want to focus on Manchester United and on this story.’
Reports in the last week have suggested Sesko agreed a contract with United which will see him earn less than he would have collected at Newcastle.
His agent has also claimed he gave up what was thought to be a significant share of the commission from the deal to ensure his client sealed a dream move.
‘There was a gap that arose in the meantime, which needed to be resolved, and actually at some point I decided to give up part of my earnings, because I think that’s the right thing to do, because ultimately I believe that every agent should put the player’s interests ahead of their own interests,’ he said.
Basnaovic also revealed further details behind negotiations that took place ‘in three different countries in six different cities’ that ‘were ongoing until five in the morning’.
‘Negotiations are extremely demanding on the side of Manchester United,’ Basanovic said.
‘I mean, it’s a huge club that has Let’s say that such clubs have a thousand or more employees, for example, they have a negotiations director, which is Matt Hargraves, who is the most prolific negotiator.
‘In the last practically ten, fifteen days, they actually followed me every step of the way.’