Marked for Benjamin Šeško
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Manchester United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Leny Yoro: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Manchester United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Nov 2026
Matthijs de Ligt wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Manchester United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mateo Retegui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Benjamin Šeško. 4‑2 against Brentford, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Manchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Retegui, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Shots: 15, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Senne Lammens knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match3 Oct 2026
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mateo Retegui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Benjamin Šeško. 4‑3 against Bournemouth, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.77, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.77 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $14.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Brighton drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Chelsea come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Manchester United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Manchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 102782. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 16, and nobody at Manchester United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.