Sesko and Ekitiké look to buck trend of ex-Bundesliga forwards struggling after big transfers

Associated Press

2 days ago

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Benjamin Sesko's long-awaited move from Leipzig to Manchester United is done. Now the real work begins.
Sesko and his fellow Premier League arrival from the Bundesliga, Liverpool's Hugo Ekitiké, will need to buck a recent trend of highly rated forwards from the German league struggling after they leave.
Another with something to prove is Mathys Tel, whose move to Tottenham from Bayern Munich was made permanent despite scoring just two goals in 13 Premier League games on loan last season.
Of course, Erling Haaland smashed records as soon as he arrived in the Premier League with Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
For every star like Haaland, plenty of players like Jadon Sancho, Timo Werner or Randal Kolo Muani lost their way after leaving Germany in big-money deals.
A friendly league for forwards
One reason might be that the Bundesliga is a happy hunting ground for would-be goalscorers.
It led the top five European leagues in terms of goals scored per game last season with 3.13 — the others were all below three — and is the only one to average more than three goals per game in each of the last seven years.
Some of that is down to Bayern racking up the score against smaller teams, but Germany is also the home of a tactical shift in world soccer over the past 15 years.
High defensive lines and so-called 'gegenpressing' high up the field reward fast, physical forwards who can hustle for the ball and take advantage of a sudden breakaway. Underdog teams are often minded to take risks rather than 'park the bus' and defend deep.
Rebuilding careers
Sesko will have seen how hard it can be to regain momentum after failing with a new club.
When Werner came back to Leipzig in 2023 after a failed stint at Chelsea, he was competing for playing time with Sesko — and eventually lost out. Werner's attempt at another reboot on loan at Tottenham fizzled, without a single Premier League goal last season.
Some players never quite recover. The high point of Luka Jovic's career was joining Real Madrid from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019 for a reported 60 million euros ($67.5 million at the time).
Once considered a potential successor to Cristiano Ronaldo, six years later the 27-year-old Jovic has just arrived at Greece's AEK Athens after stints back at Frankfurt and with Italy's AC Milan and Fiorentina.
In the balance
Omar Marmoush's move from Frankfurt to City in January hasn't been a roaring success, but isn't an obvious failure either. This season could be crucial to the Egyptian forward's future after seven goals in 16 Premier League games last season.
Kai Havertz was a Champions League winner with Chelsea but has arguably yet to reach his full potential there, or with current team Arsenal. A hamstring injury earlier this year didn't help.
It's unclear how much of a long-term future ex-Leipzig player Christopher Nkunku has in Chelsea's large squad. He scored a total of 15 goals last season but only three in the Premier League.
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