Manchester United have been warned they may have bought the next Darwin Nunez after Dietmar Hamann said Benjamin Sesko reminded him of the recently departed Liverpool forward.
For all his moments of brilliance, Nunez had just as many moments of frustration as he failed to live up to his £64m price tag.
The arrival of Hugo Ekitike this summer as well as the possible addition of Alexander Isak prompted the Anfield side to sell the Uruguayan and while he was leaving England, another striker in the form of Sesko was arriving.
United beat interest from Newcastle to sign the RB Leipzig forward but any optimism Old Trafford fans may have had has been curtailed by ex-Germany midfielder Hamann suggesting it could be Nunez 2.0.
“I’m not sure if Manchester United fans want to hear it, but I think Benjamin Sesko is a pretty similar player to Darwin Nunez,” Hamann said.
“I think Sesko has got the body, he’s got the height, he’s got the pace. I think he’s got a better touch than Nunez.
“He’s technically a very gifted player, but he’s a powerful young lad. Nunez is probably the one I would compare him with in recent years.
“I’d say his finishing is probably a bit better than Nunez, but he’s got to prove it. He did it at times at Leipzig, but he’s really in the spotlight now at Manchester United.
“Obviously, we’ve also seen that some big names went to Manchester United in the last 10 years as centre-forwards and they didn’t succeed. It won’t be an easy task, but I think he’s capable of doing it.”
Even before Hamann’s criticism, United fans may well have been concerned by their new arrival with the Slovenian not known for being prolific.
In 87 games for Leipzig, he scored 39 times and at his previous club Salzburg, his record was 29 in 79.
The 22-year-old made his United debut at the weekend, coming on with 26 minutes remaining of their match against Arsenal but head coach Ruben Amorim has backed him to be a success at the club.
“I think he has great potential in everything he does,” Amorim said.
“He can play different types of football. He’s going to feel that the Premier League is really aggressive, he’s going to learn, but he has a great potential and I can see Ben being a striker for Manchester United for a lot of years.
“That’s why we paid so much money – to have a striker that will have his history in our club.
“The guy is always thinking about football. He’s really obsessed by that and that is a good thing because you don’t have to think about that aspect with that young guy.
“I don’t need to tell Ben, ‘this is Manchester United, a lot of pressure, you have to perform, you need to be ready for the physicality, we need to be ready for every game, it’s like do-or-die’.
“With that guy, I have not that concern. I have the opposite, [he needs to] enjoy [himself] a little bit.
“He’s listening, and he wants to perform, so that is really good.”