Player Arsenal could have signed for £55m this summer is now being valued at £96.3m

Arsenal were busy pursuing a new striker at the start of the summer transfer window.

Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar clearly decided that more firepower was needed in attack, after a second successive season of finishing runners up behind Manchester City in the Premier League.

There was one striker Arsenal could have signed for £55m due to a release clause – although he is now being valued at almost double that amount…

Arsenal miss £55m Benjamin Sesko boat

Arsenal were strongly linked with a move for RB Leipzig No.30 Benjamin Sesko during the summer transfer window.

The Slovenia international made Arteta sit up and take notice after scoring 18 goals in 42 appearances throughout the 2023/24 campaign.

A story from Football Transfers even claimed that Arsenal made a £46m bid to sign Sesko back in June – a sum just below his £55m release clause.

The Slovenian eventually signed a new contract with RB Leipzig after Arsenal failed to deliver a convincing enough project – a decision which saw his £55m release clause vanish – and the Gunners now face paying almost double that amount for the striker in 2025.

A new round of data from the CIES Football Observatory shows that Sesko is currently valued at €114m (£96.3m) – mainly due to the fact his new contract runs until 2029.

Mikel Arteta and Edu are still interested

It is a deal that now looks set to cost much more than £55m for Arsenal, but the Gunners remain interested nonetheless.

An update from Caught Offside states that Arsenal are still in contact with Sesko and his representatives about a move to the Emirates Stadium in 2025 – with Arteta determined to beat rivals to his signature.

We can certainly understand why the north Londoners are so obsessed with the 21-year-old, as he just scored a terrific hat-trick for Slovenia in a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan in the UEFA Nations League.

Be sure to keep an eye on this situation heading into 2025, as Arsenal remain fixated on the man from Radece.