Rio Ferdinand says Benjamin Sesko reminds him of ‘joke’ ex-Man Utd player | Football

Rio Ferdinand has compared Benjamin Sesko to ex-Manchester United player Louis Saha, who was a ‘joke’ in terms of his value to the team.

Sesko has scored two goals and provided one assist across 14 Premier League games since joining United from RB Leipzig for £74m in August.

Saha, who played as a striker for United from 2004 to 2008, registered 28 goals and 10 assists in 86 top-flight matches for the Red Devils.

Ferdinand says Sesko reminds him of Saha as he defended the Slovenian forward on his YouTube podcast ahead of United’s game against Wolves.

On the podcast, Joel Beya claimed that Sesko had not ‘hit the ground running the way he was supposed to’ but Ferdinand strongly disagreed.

After Stephen Howson chimed in to say that Sesko didn’t have a full pre-season, that United look better as team when he plays and that he allows Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo to operate behind him, Ferdinand said: ‘I couldn’t agree with Steve more.

‘Sesko [offers more] than [just] goals. Yes, the strikers will be judged on their goals, but internally sometimes there are things that they bring to the table that you go, ‘You know what, that is huge’.

‘You know who was like that? Louis Saha. He was never going to win the Golden Boot at Manchester United.

‘But in terms of his value to the team, he was a joke some of the stuff that he would do to enable others to play better.

‘He would get us up the pitch at times, he would hold the ball for three or four seconds at times to give us a breather.

‘Forget goals with him. His all-round game… I was sitting there sometimes going, ‘Oh my God, I’m so happy he’s on our team’.

‘I think with Sesko, listen, we still want to see the goals. But I’ve seen a few parts of his game that I go, ‘Oh the other players are liking that’.

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‘I can see it. Manchester United haven’t had a striker who can just hold it up or flick it on for ages. Like just a simple little thing but effective.’

Sheringham: Sesko is too inexperienced

Speaking to Oddspedia last month, former United striker Teddy Sheringham said that Sesko was too ‘inexperienced’ and felt that his old club should have signed Harry Kane instead.

‘Manchester United are asking too much of Benjamin Sesko,’ he said. ‘It’s a massive job to lead the line for them, the expectations are enormous.

‘It’s always going to be tough for a young, inexperienced striker like Sesko to come into a club like Manchester United and hit the ground running. The club already tried that approach with Rasmus Hojlund and it didn’t work out.

‘For me, United should have bought Harry Kane to lead the line when they were searching for a new striker. He would have guaranteed you 20-25 goals every season.’

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