Owen questions if £72m Man Utd star is the ‘real deal’ as Shearer slams ‘pathetic’ team-mate

· Football365

Michael Owen has questioned whether Man Utd striker Benjamin Sesko is “the real deal” as he defended Michael Carrick over benching the star

Man Utd were playing against ten men for the majority of the match after Phil Foden was shown a controversial red card for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.

Sesko climbed off the bench with just 23 minutes to impact the match and Owen thinks Man Utd need better than the Slovenia international, who was signed for £72m from RB Leipzig, to start matches.

Owen told The Metro :

> “There’s so many different [attacking] options, which is a nice thing for Manchester United. > > “I think Sesko still needs to develop more as a player to be the real deal. > > “Surely Manchester United have aspirations of being the best team in the country again and winning the Premier League. For them to do that, I would suggest that they need a centre-forward that is one of the best in the world. > > “Is Sesko one of the ten best centre-forwards in the world? No, I don’t think he is. > > “How do you get him there? Well, maybe you play him a bit more and give him more experience. Maybe that is the way forward. > > “But as things stand now, if I was picking the team yesterday, I would have done exactly the same as Michael Carrick. I don’t think he’ll be having sleepless nights. > > “I think Sesko is a great impact player. I’ve got no problems if one of them got injured and he started. He’s scored goals from starting and from coming off the bench. > > “He’s a good player to have in your squad, but I don’t think there should be a massive clamour all of a sudden just because they didn’t score a goal in the game. They scored five goals against Ipswich not so long ago.”

Man Utd can feel aggrieved after Pro Ref admitted Erling Haaland’s goal, which decided the match shouldn’t have stood, but Alan Shearer was more interested in Foden’s sending off with Fernandes’ reaction “pathetic”.

When asked about the two main controversial moments in the match, Shearer said on The Rest Is Football :

> “I didn’t agree with either of them to be honest. > > “But I thought the way Bruno Fernandes went down was pathetic. He helped get Foden off and yes he’s kicked out at him a little bit but Bruno Fernandes has also kicked Phil Foden. > > “If Phil Foden reacts in the same way as Bruno Fernandes did then both get red cards. So for me either both are red or neither of them are. > > “You say to Phil Foden, look you’ve been red carded for kicking out. Now, whether it was a hard one or whether it was a soft one, it was a soft one like Bruno Fernandes’ was. > > “He’s kicked out, so he’s stupid OK? But Bruno Fernandes has done the same thing so for me without doubt they both should’ve been a red card if Michael Oliver thinks Phil Foden’s is a red card.”

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