How much Arsenal will now need to pay to complete Benjamin Sesko transfer revealed after ‘unstoppable’ performances

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Benjamin Sesko remains one of Arsenal’s primary striker transfer targets ahead of the summer.

The Slovenian is enjoying a fruitful campaign for RB Leipzig, netting 13 goals and providing five assists in 29 Bundesliga starts.

The Gunners have long admired the number nine and are expected to be in the race to sign him in the upcoming window.

Arsenal Insider revealed this week that Arsenal sent scouts to watch Sesko against Bayern Munich and were impressed by his performance.

The North Londoners now have clarity around the prospective price tag for the player after fresh developments emerged on Tuesday morning.

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Benjamin Sesko’s new release clause is over €80m

Enjoying another steady season of development, Sesko has been described as ‘unstoppable’ and now has two impressive campaigns in a top-five European league on his CV.

It was reported in early March that Sesko’s release clause was around €70 million (£60 million), but this has now risen due to performance-related clauses in his RB Leipzig contract.

According to Florian Plettenberg, the fee that would see potential suitors skip negotiations with Leipzig is now at over €80 million (£68 million).

This increase in the release clause is a result of the 21-year-old performing excellently in the Bundesliga in recent months.

Arsenal could, of course, negotiate a lower fee, while they’re understood to have already laid the groundwork regarding personal terms.

Benjamin Sesko wouldn’t be worth the risk for Arsenal at €80m

While there is a perception from the outside that Sesko is the finished article and ready to take the Premier League by storm, this is very much not the case.

Still extremely raw, the centre-forward would be a project player that Mikel Arteta would have to nurture and develop over time.

There is general scepticism about how strikers from the Bundesliga adapt to the Premier League, as there is a feeling that they’re afforded a lot of space and get a lot of chances in the German top flight.

However, while Sesko strikes the ball exceptionally powerfully, he’s not effective at finding a high volume of good-quality chances, which will be a concern for the Arsenal analytics department.

Averaging just 0.35 non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes over the last year places him in the 48th percentile for strikers in Europe’s top five leagues, likely making him an average goal-scorer, even if he’s able to outperform his xG.

At a fee as substantial as £68 million, you’d hope for more signs that he’s a sure thing, rather than still being something of a punt, making the prospective deal too much of a risk for Arsenal to push forward with.