Manchester United find themselves in a worrying situation with Benjamin Sesko.
The Slovenia international enjoyed a strong second-half to his debut campaign in England last term, with growing hope he could be the club’s long-term solution up front.
Having scored a goal every 85 minutes under Michael Carrick, his 2025-26 campaign came to a premature end in May after a heavy landing down Old Trafford’s famous slope around the edge of the pitch against Liverpool, aggravating a shin injury in the process. Sesko had initially suffered the injury in early spring, carrying the problem as United chased down third place.
Sesko did not play a single minute of pre-season season action over the summer months as he continued to recover from the issue. It also delayed his start to the new season. While he was handing starting roles in the Champions League and Carabao Cup against Sabah and Brighton respectively, he was named on the bench in United’s opening four Premier League games, left out completely for last Sunday’s trip to Fulham.
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It later emerged he had suffered a recurrence of the same shin issue, withdrawing from the Slovenia squad for the international break. The striker has been undergoing tests back at Carrington this week with a decision to be made on his recovery plan in due course.
Will Sesko face a similar spell out after summer nightmare?
Sesko’s injury is one that is difficult to judge without intimate knowledge of what’s going inside the United medical room. But this latest setback would suggest he would have perhaps benefited with more recovery time – even if his side have started the season in desperate need of a formidable presence up front.
Specific details on Sesko’s injury over the last six months have been scarce. ‘We’ll have to see what that brings,’ was Carrick’s assessment of the most recent setback but there will inevitably be frustration over the situation after months of hard work.
Sesko has not started a Premier League game since 3 May with his rehabilitation stretching across the summer months and into September. United staff have already seen the patient approach fall short. There are different options going forward to be considered but there is the possibility of another extended layoff on the cards.
‘The risk is always there with recurrence. With injuries like this, you are playing a game of whack-a-mole,’ Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics, told Metro.
‘They can be very challenging. The first thing you try isn’t always going to be the thing that works. They will be assessing what they did the first time around and now looking at different options. I would be confident they won’t just be doing the same thing because that hasn’t fixed it. They will want to move on.
‘Caution is the right word here. Given this has flared up again they will be inclined to be more cautious, not less. In terms of timelines, Unless he responds incredibly quickly and very differently than last time around, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a similar time frame and similar time lost as we saw last time.’
What are United’s options?
United don’t play again until 10 October when they host Tottenham – already a must-win game for Carrick whose side have taken just five points from five games. The three-week international break will start to hack away at Sesko’s recovery period but the club may still be yet to learn how long this latest process will take.
Extensive testing could uncover something new this week, at which point United will decide which action to take.
‘One option is to continue the conservative management. That is the route they have been going down so far,’ Smith continued. ‘Separately, they may also look at some very specific treatments that are aimed at bone or soft tissue healing.
‘If it keeps resurfacing and imaging points to something more structural like a stress fracture that isn’t healing, more invasive options become part of the conversation.
‘Sometimes surgery can be considered. Looking at something like this initially, all you are doing is X-ray which gives you some picture of the bone but you are not going to get everything. So they may be looking at doing MRI or CT (scan) on the bone as well to see if they can see any further damage or trauma.
‘Sometimes you get microfractures that aren’t healing. They can go in and perform micro fracture treatment around it. They may get in there and put small breaks into the bone to create blood flow and try kickstart the healing process. But that’s a very invasive option and you are left dealing with a broken bone and all the time requirements from that to handle.
‘If it keeps recurring beyond this than a more definitive surgical option becomes a bigger part of the conversation. But that is generally a last resort in this scenario when the conservative approaches have had a proper chance and not been successful.’
United will also consider whether the issue is being caused by Sesko’s own biomechanics. The striker is one of the fastest players at the club and possesses an extraordinary leap but those too could be closely looked at to determine the real issue.
‘It could be something more mechanical, something to do with his own biomechanics in how he is running. They could indeed be performing really detailed biomechanical analysis on him now to see if there is something going on that’s causing this,’ Smith added.
Since taking the reins, Carrick has been reluctant to put specific timelines on any of his injured players and that is unlikely to change. United will be more careful than ever if Sesko is indeed facing another spell out of the team.
The short-term picture could potentially be another frustrating one. But reassuringly, the shin problems that have troubled him this year are unlikely to be something he has to contend with in the long-term.
‘The priority right now is to get an unbelievably precise diagnosis to ensure the club is not managing a recurring issue without knowing what is driving it,’ Smith said.
‘From there, it is about building a return which is not set by a date on the calendar. Realistically, when he is back playing he will likely need some individual management but right now, I wouldn’t be concerned with this being something that could plague him for the rest of his career.’