Gary Neville needs to be more careful, his words are influential and Benjamin Sesko does not need vilification

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Manchester United icon Gary Neville called out Benjamin Sesko after the team’s latest game. It was uncalled for.

Any player who signs for Manchester United arrives under close scrutiny. Especially when you are a striker who cost £66 million.

But what you do hope for, is that Manchester United’s club legends would cut the new boys a little extra slack.

A recent poll from The Athletic slammed Benjamin Sesko, claiming that Premier League agents had labelled the striker as the worst summer signing.

This is despite the existence of James Trafford and Yoane Wissa, two players who cost a combined £90 million and have played a total of three games between them.

Manchester United attract scrutiny and attention like no other club in the Premier League.

There would be pitchforks out in the media for the United board and manager if the Trafford or Wissa situations had transpired at Old Trafford.

United’s transfers have actually been very good. Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Senne Lammens have all been impactful, and this leaves Sesko as a target, despite a solid start.

Sesko has scored two goals and provided one assist so far. It’s not stratospheric, but he has avoided the awful 14-game wait Rasmus Hojlund had for his first goal.

So it was disappointing frankly to see Gary Neville publicly call out Benjamin Sesko for criticism after Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.

Gary Neville’s criticism of Benjamin Sesko was out of line

Gary Neville is one of the Premier League’s biggest pundits, and his words wield great influence. They can set agendas – we saw this with his brilliant attack on the Super League.

And with Benjamin Sesko just bedding into life in English football, he does not need a negative narrative taking hold that Neville has fuelled, or even started to create.

Neville called out Sesko as ‘well off it’, and went on to call the striker ‘awkward’, yet his words do not match up with other analysis.

Our snap verdict on the Slovenian’s performance was a 5/10 rating. It was not his greatest game – but when you look at how Neville carried on, you would think the striker had delivered a 2/10 performance.

On MUTV, Neville’s former teammate Wes Brown praised Sesko’s ability to get a quick shot away, referring to his early effort from outside the box in the first half.

And just this week, technical director Jason Wilcox praised the way Sesko has helped his Manchester United teammates out.

Wilcox said: “Benji, at the top end, he’s going to be an amazing player,” Wilcox said.

“It’s difficult to be the no.9 at United and I know sometimes that Matheus and Bryan are getting a lot of credit, but the runs that Benji is making is also helping Matheus and Bryan as well.”

Sesko’s link-up play has been superior to what we saw from Rasmus Hojlund. The reality is that Sesko has fallen victim to the success of United’s other signings. There is a high bar.

But while we expect criticism, we do expect Neville to be a little more partisan, knowing that his words carry so much weight.

Sesko has huge potential, and Neville should be cherishing Manchester United’s new frontman, not carelessly supplying ammunition to the haters who love a negative story about the club.

There is interesting context here too. Manchester United have just gone four games unbeaten, and are just two points off second place.

Instead of talking positively about Ruben Amorim’s decent start, Neville has focused on a negative and amplified it.

Paul Scholes piled into Senne Lammens before he played a game

The negativity from the ‘Class of 92‘ has become a little too frequent at times. Neville’s former teammate Paul Scholes is the most outspoken.

Scholes laid into new goalkeeper signing Senne Lammens before he had even played a game for the club.

Scholes blasted Lammens and said that he could not possibly be a top goalkeeper because he only cost £18 million.

Lammens has since made his debut and looks the part, earning comparisons from the crowd to Peter Schmeichel on his debut.

The Belgian still has a lot to prove, but Scholes’ comments, like Neville’s, were just unhelpfully negative and toxic.

Now four games unbeaten, Manchester United will be looking to make it five-in-a-row with the game against Tottenham this weekend.

Lammens and Sesko will be a key part of the club’s potential success, with Amorim looking for another statement away victory after the win at Anfield.