TA: Manchester United waited until they confirmed that the player wanted to join in the Sesco negotiations before giving the official offer

The Athletic reported that Manchester United waited until the player decided to regard Manchester United as the first choice before giving the offer.

Manchester United is not the only team interested in Sesco. In the summer of 2022, Newcastle was close to reaching an agreement with Sesco. Although it was not signed in the end, the Magpies' interest never faded.

Newcar has always been in touch with the Sesco team, and the club sees it as a potential replacement for Isaac's departure. Newcastle's senior executives began operating the transfer when Isaac applied not to participate in the preseason tour and the possibility of leaving the team increased significantly this summer.

Arsenal's previous pursuit of Cesco had an impact. Newcastle's core decision-makers believe that since they are both Champions League teams, if Arsenal regards Cesco as a key goal, they should also join the competition. Newcastle has competed with Chelsea for Drapp and Joao Pedro this summer.

Newcastle's intervention prompted Manchester United to act quickly, leading coach Amorin, CEO Berrada and football director Wilcox to meet in Chicago, and the two clubs then lobby for the Sesco team. Amorin had a video conference with Sesco last week, while football negotiating director Matt Hargreaves met with Sesco's agent Elvis Barsanovic several times for preliminary negotiations on personal terms and commissions.

Newcastle also has complex factors beyond Isaac. Due to the vacancies of sports director and CEO positions, recruitment director Steve Nixon is responsible for connecting with the Sesco team, while assistant recruitment director Andy Howe and minority shareholder Jamie Ruben are responsible for negotiations with Leipzig.

Although Cesco has not made it clear that he has made Newcastle choose, the smooth progress of the initial dialogue has left the Magpie optimistic. Its team informed the two sides that time still needed to consider it. After more talks last Friday, Newcastle submitted its first offer of 75 million euros of basic transfer fee + 5 million surcharge to Leipzig within 24 hours. The

The Cesco team was surprised by the timing of the sudden offer from Newcastle, which disrupted their planning process. Newcastle suspects that the other party is waiting for Manchester United so that the Red Devils can prepare to make an official bid. Barcelonanovic flew to Leipzig from Oxford on Saturday afternoon (he just completed another client's loan deal) and met with senior Leipzig executives who participated in the friendly match against Atlanta that night. Industry insiders said that Sesco was Barcelonanovic's "lifelong effort", which shows the importance of this customer.

Although Leipzig believes that Newcastle's offer is insufficient, it did not directly refuse and the negotiations continued. Some people familiar with the matter believe that if the total amount of Newcastle quotation reaches 85 million euros, it can meet Leipzig's psychological price, but Manchester United's intervention has changed the negotiation pattern, but Manchester United's decision-makers have not submitted their offer for a long time because they are waiting for the Sesco team to clarify which team the players want to go to.

People who understand Manchester United's negotiation strategy revealed that they hope that Sesco will show their parent team only to join Manchester United, as Mbemo did with Brentford, so as to get rid of bidding pressure. Although this statement will eventually come, Newcastle first received positive signals that the players are willing to join. After Monday's active talks, Newcastle raised its offer to at least €80 million, and the club has done its best to complete the deal.

However, Manchester United's confidence has not diminished. Executives believe that if Newcastle is really the first choice for players, the deal should have been completed long ago. On Tuesday morning, Manchester United finally submitted a offer of 75 million + 10 million surcharges. Later that day, Newcastle also reached an agreement with Leipzig on the 82.5 million base + 2.5 million surcharges. But as time goes by, all parties are clearly aware of Sesco's intentions: he wants to join Manchester United.

Hargreaves and Vivier then stayed in Leipzig for several days to finalize the deal. The negotiations between the two clubs were described as "professional and efficient" and were completed in just a few days, in sharp contrast to Brentford's tug-of-war over Mbemo. On Thursday afternoon, the two sides reached an agreement of 76.5 million + 8.5 million additional terms. The basic fee was 6 million lower than the Newcastle quotation, but the total price was still 85 million euros.

Manchester United's internal valuation of Sesco was about £75 million. People familiar with the matter said they could have matched the total price of £79 million paid by Liverpool for Ekitic. The actual expenditure of £73.7 million is still considerable, but is lower than these two sets of figures.

Newcastle officials were sad, despite all their efforts and getting the signal that players could be convinced, and they were always worried that they would eventually choose Manchester. It makes people feel that their participation is just raising Sesco's salary requirements. With the uncertain future of Isaac, Newcastle is now back to its origin.