Manchester United's Sesko Injury Deepens Crisis
Manchester United’s stuttering season has taken another hit, and this time the frustration is coming from inside the club’s own old guard.
Benjamin Sesko, the £74 million signing from Leipzig and the man tasked with leading United’s attack for the next decade, has broken down again. The Slovenian striker, who arrived in the summer of 2025, missed the entire pre-season with a lingering leg problem carried over from last year. Now that same issue has flared up – and patience is running thin.
The injury dates back to May, when Sesko took a kick to his leg during United’s win over Liverpool. Since then, his United career has been stop-start at best. He started in the Champions League against Sabah, led the line in the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton, and made four substitute appearances in the league. Then, suddenly, nothing.
On Sunday at Craven Cottage, as United scraped a 1-1 draw with Fulham, Sesko wasn’t even in the squad. He didn’t travel to London. Manager Michael Carrick could offer no clear update on how serious the problem is, only that tests this week will dictate the club’s next move.
For a side already enduring what has been described as a disastrous start to the season, it’s another unwelcome twist.
“How can Manchester United have only one striker?”
The decision not to bring in another orthodox centre-forward in the summer is now under the microscope. United went into the campaign with Sesko as the marquee No 9 and Joshua Zirkzee as the only recognised alternative. Zirkzee, for all his promise, has just nine goals in 77 appearances.
On the latest episode of “The Good, the Bad and the Football”, Nicky Butt didn’t bother hiding his disbelief.
“The back four is a big problem, but for me, the bigger problem is the number 9,” Butt said, quoted by Metro. “How can Manchester United have only one striker? Who is injured, and with what injury, is it a leg injury?”
The ex-midfielder’s concern cut straight to the heart of United’s planning. A club of this size, chasing trophies on multiple fronts, built an attack around one out-and-out striker – and now that striker is unavailable with an issue no one seems able to properly explain.
Scholes and Butt question the nature of Sesko’s injury
If Butt was puzzled, Paul Scholes went for blunt humour.
“How do you get injured in your leg?” Scholes replied. “Isn’t that a broken leg? Can’t you just wear shin pads?”
It was a joke, but one laced with irritation. Sesko’s problem stems from a kick, not a muscle tear or a ligament rupture. For former pros who played through knocks on a weekly basis, the situation clearly jars.
Butt doubled down.
“Either you break your leg, or you play,” he said. “Wear shin pads or padding, I don’t quite understand it. It’s hard to discuss without knowing what it is.”
That last line is key. Neither Butt nor Scholes know the medical details. Yet their confusion mirrors a wider unease: United have spent heavily on a centre-forward who is already on the treatment table, and the club cannot even outline when he might return.
A thin attack, rising pressure
As things stand, the burden falls squarely on Zirkzee and a supporting cast of makeshift options. There is no veteran target man waiting in reserve, no proven poacher to rotate in while Sesko recovers. Every misfire, every dropped point, will feed the narrative that United gambled in the market and lost.
Tests this week will finally give Carrick and his staff clarity on Sesko’s condition and the treatment plan. Until then, the questions from the club’s former midfield enforcers will hang in the air.
How long can a team with Manchester United’s ambitions walk into a season with one true striker – and watch him disappear from the pitch just when they need him most?
