Ruben Amorim has stressed the importance of Benjamin Sesko’s recent return from injury ahead of Manchester United’s trip to Aston Villa.
Manchester United signed Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig in a deal worth £74 million in August.
The transfer led to Rasmus Hojlund joining Napoli on a season-long loan, after the Dane managed to score just 26 goals in his first two seasons at Old Trafford. That wasn’t enough to convince Ruben Amorim that he could be a reliable source of goals this term.
While Hojlund has been scoring goals for Napoli, Sesko has had a slow start to his United career.
The Slovenian international has just two goals to his name after making 13 appearances, but a knee injury suffered in United’s 2-2 draw away to Tottenham led to him missing four matches.
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After returning from injury with a substitute appearance in United’s 4-4 draw against Bournemouth, Sesko will want to finish his debut season strongly.
Amorim is keen to get the best out of his 22-year-old striker.
Ruben Amorim compares Benjamin Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee
Joshua Zirkzee benefited from Sesko’s injury because it led to more minutes on the pitch.
The Netherlands international started three consecutive games in the Premier League and scored his first goal of the season in a crucial 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.
With Sesko back from injury, Zirkzee will hope that he’s done enough to warrant regular game time as a substitute, especially in the absence of AFCON stars like Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo.
Speaking to ManUtd.com before United travel to Villa, Amorim compared his two strikers by acknowledging the difference Sesko will make to the team.
“I think he [Sesko] is a different type of striker,” said Amorim.
“The only one in that part because Josh [Zirkzee] is more like a no.9 and 10 at the same time, a little bit like Cunha. Ben is a guy who likes to be in the box. He makes a lot of runs.
“Of course, if you look at him, you can feel that he has so much more to give. He is improving the physicality, he was one month without playing, but he is ready and he is going to help us.”
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Sesko is in line to make his first start since returning to injury and these comments from Amorim suggest that he is ready to take on a bigger role against Villa.
Man Utd take a different approach against Aston Villa
Amorim is preparing for the festive period without three of his African stars.
Amad, Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui have all left to take part in the AFCON.
The United head coach admits his side will have to play a little differently, which may be a hint that we could see a change from his preferred 3-2-4-1 system.
“We need to play a little bit different,” he added. “We lost some one-against-one. We will see but we’ll be ready for the game.
“It’s perfect, it’s not perfect as we don’t have all the players, but we are ready. We have players that can solve the game for us, so are happy with that.
“Yes [we have lost Amad and Mbeumo] and also Nous.
“So Nous is also really important for us but, when one player is out, we have opportunities for other players.
“Last year, in some games, we managed to win, especially in Europe, without Amad. Bryan was not here, so we already have those moments of difficulty. So we are ready, more than ready, to cope with that.”
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