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Benjamin Sesko's agent has revealed how Manchester United beat their rivals to the signing of the Slovenian star as he opened up on one of the summer's biggest transfer sagas.
Sesko joined United for £73.7million from RB Leipzig to spearhead Ruben Amorim's new £200m frontline, following the arrivals of Matheus Cunha from Wolves and Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo.
Newcastle had tabled a bid of just shy of £70m, while the 22-year-old had also been linked with a move to Arsenal.
Sesko, who could make his debut against the Gunners in United's Premier League opener on Sunday, has signed a five-year deal at Old Trafford.
And his agent, Elvis Basanovic, has now given behind-the-scenes details on the transfer.
Asked what happened with Arsenal, Basanovic told the 24UR programme on Slovenian station POP! TV: 'It's hard to say exactly. Whenever a deal doesn't go through, there are always several factors. In the end, everything has to align for it to happen.
Benjamin Sesko joined Man United from RB Leipzig in a deal worth nearly £74million
Sesko's agent, Elvis Basanovic, has revealed how United got their man this summer
'What's important here is that Benjamin's wish, for years now, has always been United. And for United, he was even willing to take a pay cut to make the move happen.
'As his agent, I wanted to make that wish come true.'
Basanovic also detailed the lengths United went to in order to get the deal over the line with Sesko, who scored 21 goals in all competitions for RB Leipzig last season.
'We were in contact with Man United's negotiations director, Matt Hargreaves, who was a ruthless negotiator,' he said.
'In the last 10-15 days, they followed my every step, and the talks took place in three different countries and six different cities.
On United's interest in Sesko seven years ago, Basanovic added: 'We visited their academy when he was just 15.
'Even then, we were planning this move for the future. At the time, we didn't want him to go [when he was] so young.
'In recent years, we stayed in contact but we told them our plan - two years in the Bundesliga, to prepare for the future in the Premier League.
Sesko has trained with United this week and could make his debut against Arsenal this Sunday
'We're delighted the plan worked.'
Newcastle had offered more to RB Leipzig but the player’s preference to join United was decisive in finding a quick resolution to the situation.
Since moving to Germany from Red Bull Salzburg Sesko has scored 39 goals and added eight assists in 87 games.
United had stayed tight-lipped throughout the pursuit of the Slovenia international, who has been capped 41 times by his country, allowing Newcastle to dictate the early stages of the bidding process.
Newcastle had identified Sesko as a replacement for Alexander Isak, who is focused on joining Liverpool this summer.
Arsenal meanwhile opted to sign Viktor Gyokeres, who had been of United's key targets, for £64m.
