Man Utd ready for Benjamin Sesko transfer tug-of-war after Newcastle's opening bid

Manchester United are continuing to push to land £70m-rated RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko - despite competition from Newcastle.

United made their first approach for the Slovenian star last week, through intermediaries, who opened up dialogue over a potential deal. Those talks have progressed and will be stepped up this week, once United have returned home from their three-game tour of the US.

Newcastle are also pushing for Sesko, with United prepared for a lengthy battle to land the sought after 22-year-old. On Saturday it emerged that Newcastle have made a bid of just under £70m for Sesko, having rejected Liverpool's £110m offer for Alexander Isak.

Against that backdrop, Manchester United are braced for protracted negotiations with Bundesliga club Leipzig, who are determined to stand firm on their £70m valuation.

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Although United are looking to offload several players before the summer transfer window closes, they have scope to sign a striker without selling.

Marcus Rashford's season-long loan move to Barcelona cleared £12m off their annual wage bill, with the La Liga club covering his entire salary.

United also raised £20.7m from sell-on clauses including Anthony Elanga’s switch to Newcastle, moves for Alvaro Fernandez and Maxi Oyedele, and the £5m paid by Chelsea to pull out of their deal to sign Jadon Sancho.

In addition, United's failure to qualify for Europe this season – for only the second time in 35 years - means they are not bound by UEFA'S limit of spending no more than 70 per cent of annual income on transfers and wages.

Despite that, United are still bound by financial restrictions imposed by Profit and Sustainability [PSR] rules, which they intend to stick within.

But United's willingness to pay inflated transfer fees in recent seasons has left the club with significant amortisation costs that are still being felt.

That means sales will have to be made before the end of the financial year on June 30 next year, to ensure United comply with financial regulations.

The structure of the deals for Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, who cost a combined £133.5m, with payments spread over instalments, has given United greater freedom to spend, as have wider cost-cutting at the club in terms of redundancies and reduced outlay across every level of the business.

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