Benjamin Sesko's Injury Update: Ready for Manchester United Season
Benjamin Sesko is on course to be fit for the start of Manchester United’s season, with the club confident their first-choice striker will shake off a shin injury in time for the serious business.
The 23-year-old has sat out United’s opening pre-season friendlies against Wrexham and Rosenborg, but that absence is understood to be part of a carefully managed plan rather than a setback. Staff at Carrington are said to be satisfied with his progress and, crucially, he was never pencilled in to feature in those early games.
Sesko first picked up the shin problem late last season and aggravated it in the 3-2 win over Liverpool on May 3, a night that underlined his importance to United’s attack. The club kept the exact nature of the injury deliberately vague at the time, yet the expectation now is that the three league fixtures he missed at the end of that campaign will be the only competitive matches he sits out.
The Slovenia international returned to outdoor work last week, a key step in his rehabilitation, and now has a realistic chance of featuring against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm on Saturday. If that comes too soon for a start, the target is clear: Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg on August 8, where Sesko is likely to lead the line.
United will then head straight from Sweden to Dublin for a six-day training camp, a crucial block of work before the final stretch of their preparations. Leeds United await at Croke Park on August 12 in what will be their penultimate friendly, with the Premier League opener against Hull City looming on August 22.
Sesko’s enforced pause has opened a window for Joshua Zirkzee, who has started both friendlies so far. His involvement, though, comes against a complicated backdrop. United would prefer to move the Dutchman on, but any permanent sale is difficult: the club would need around £21 million to avoid taking a loss on a player they signed for £36.5m in July 2024.
Interest from Italy has never really gone away. Several Serie A clubs have tracked Zirkzee during his time at Old Trafford, and a loan return to the division currently looks the most realistic route out for the 25-year-old.
United, for their part, want another striker in the building to share the load with Sesko. The club have pushed back on suggestions of any approach for Danny Welbeck, insisting there was no contact before Chelsea stepped in on the Brighton forward.
Welbeck, who hit 14 goals for Brighton last season and has long been open to the idea of a return to Old Trafford, now finds Stamford Bridge calling instead. At 35 and out of contract at Brighton next year, he represents a short-term opportunity for Chelsea — and a reminder for United that the market is moving while they wait for their No 9 to get fully back up to speed.
