Peter Schmeichel has criticised Manchester United’s decision to sign Benjamin Sesko and let Rasmus Hojlund go during the summer transfer window. The Red Devils secured the services of Sesko in a £66.26million deal, plus another £7.36m in add-ons, from RB Leipzig in August. Despite a rocky start at Old Trafford, the Slovenian has found the back of the net in his last two outings, including scoring the second goal in a crucial victory over Sunderland prior to the international break.
Hojlund, meanwhile, left United for Napoli on a season-long loan in September. The Italian giants has an obligation to purchase Hojlund if they secure a spot in next season’s Champions League. He has hit the ground running in Naples, netting four times in his first six games.
United legend Schmeichel has questioned the logic behind letting Hojlund leave and bringing in Sesko, blaming the club’s creative players for Hojlund’s lack of service.
“The signing of Benjamin Sesko was a little bit weird to me because we have Rasmus Hojlund, who has been starved of service for two years,” he said on the BBC podcast Sacked in the Morning.
“You only have to see what he’s doing at Napoli with Kevin de Bruyne and Scott McTominay to play with – he’s scoring goals. I’ve consistently said this for two-and-a-half years – Rasmus Hojlund will be a 25-goal-a-year striker for Manchester United, but he needs service.
“We let him go on the stats that he scored very little goals last season and bring Sesko in at the time we bring in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo, who would give Hojlund first-class service.
“You spend £70m-plus on Sesko, when we don’t have the number six we should have, and there’s the goalkeeping position as well.”
Schmeichel went on to claim there were far more urgent matters at United that required attention initially, including resolving the goalkeeper situation.
“This season alone we’ve conceded nine goals from goalkeeping errors,” he continued. “When I played, when Edwin van der Sar played, when David de Gea played, the brief was win 10 points a season, you don’t give points away.
“Why did we bring someone in that we didn’t need? Because the head of recruitment comes from Leipzig [also Sesko’s former club] and he’s got to make a mark.
“When I played, the manager [Sir Alex Ferguson] was in charge. He said ‘him in and him out’. Now it’s different people with different agendas that decide. How can you create a stable environment to have a football team that can go out and win every game?”