Michael Carrick admits the length of Benjamin Sesko’s injury lay-off remains unclear as Manchester United weigh up their options over the striker’s recovery.
The Red Devils have been dealing with injury concerns ahead of attempting to kick-start a stuttering opening to the season at home to winless Tottenham on Saturday.
Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui picked up issues during an international break that began with Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo, Karl Darlow and Sesko withdrawing from their respective national teams.
The latter missed United’s last-gasp 1-1 draw at Fulham three weeks ago as a nagging shin issue flared up, with Carrick confirming the Slovenia striker will be out against Spurs and beyond.
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‘It’s not the exact issue,’ Carrick said. ‘It’s a similar area, but it’s not the exact same thing again.
‘And we’re kind of still working through it a little bit of seeing how long the issue will be. We’re hoping that it’ll be soon, obviously, but at this moment it’s still not quite clear.’
Sesko left with a shin injury against Liverpool in May and missed all of United’s pre-season friendlies, but he managed to play a part in the first six games of the season, scoring twice.
Asked if United are hoping rest will work before looking at other solutions, Carrick said: ‘Yeah, there’s different things to look at.
‘I think he had recovered really well actually from the initial one, and there was a lot of time, and sometimes things get thrown up.
‘The body does certain things, and we’ve got to react to that and try and get him back as quick as we can.’
Sesko was the most expensive signing United made last year, while this summer’s costliest acquisition has yet to make his competitive debut.
Carlos Baleba made the £70million move from Brighton with an ankle issue, but Carrick says the midfielder is ‘improving’ having ‘trained a lot’ having been an unused substitute at Fulham.
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‘He’s certainly getting closer, Carlos,’ the United boss said. ‘It’s been great to have him out on the grass and to see him up close really.
‘He played a little bit in a training game that we had last week (against Lausanne-Sport), so that was good for him to get some minutes.
‘I think the other side of it a little bit, he has missed a lot, and he’s missed crucial time in terms of, you know, the end of pre-season.
‘There’s a little bit of patience there for him to get up to speed. That’s up to us to kind of pick that right time for him as well, but he offers us a lot.
‘I’ve said it before, the midfield that we’ve got we’re really happy with and the selections and the options that we have, and he definitely adds to that.’