Film study: Benjamin Šeško

Is the Slovenian Arsenal's next 9?

There’s probably no more evergreen statement in the minds of many Arsenal fans than “Arsenal needs to sign a center-forward.”

As usual, there is plenty of room for debate on that topic, but where’s the fun in not signing players, really? Let’s say for purposes of this discussion Arsenal are signing one soon (I think they will). Why not Benjamin Šeško?

The 6-5 Slovenian is one of the young strikers du jour in world football, now starting regularly for an RB Leipzig that sit fourth in Germany and have been pretty woeful in the Champions League, currently 0-5 with three hard matches left.

Šeško really turned heads (many were already turned) down the stretch last season, finishing on a torrid run where he scored 12 goals in 20 appearances (never more than one in a game). That came on about 5.8 xG, so his finishing was definitely raucous in that stretch.

Prior to Leipzig, the tall youngster had spent three seasons at the Salzburg campus of the energy drink football family, scoring 14 non-penalty goals in about 22.5 90s in his final campaign. His CV contains a host of local Slovenian clubs prior to that Salzburg entry, which occurred when he was just 16.

Since moving to Germany, Šeško has been quite productive. He started 17 games in all last campaign, ending on 14 goals (none from penalties). This season, he’s got a considerably lower four goals in 12 starts.

The numbers overall in the Bundesliga are quite good, and Šeško recently ranked 10th in my striker ranking piece, which is still heavily reliant on last season’s output.

He’s still above the golden mark of 0.6 goals per 90, and his shot volume is very good, at better than 2.6 shots per 90 minutes. His shot selection is also very good, but his finishing is something to watch for regression, as his numbers have dipped from “Zeus on the pitch” to mere “demigod” this season. He’s likely more of an Achilles than a Zeus in that department, which is not too shabby in and of itself.

But that’s enough numbers, don’t you think? Let’s roll some tape.

The film