Owen backs Carrick's Sesko decision but warns United striker is not yet world-class

Michael Owen has backed Michael Carrick’s decision to leave Benjamin Sesko out of Manchester United’s starting XI for Sunday’s Manchester derby, though the former England striker warned that the Slovenian must earn far more playing time before he can be considered a truly elite centre-forward.

Sesko, who joined United from RB Leipzig for around £74 million last summer, has yet to start a Premier League game this season despite scoring 11 league goals in 30 appearances. He was introduced as a second-half substitute in the 67th minute of a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City — a game that United played against 10 men for the majority of the second half after Phil Foden was sent off for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.

Gary Neville had argued there was a case for bringing Sesko on at half-time once City were reduced, but Owen told The Metro that he would have made the same call as Carrick given the striker’s current level.

“I think Sesko still needs to develop more as a player to be the real deal,” Owen said. “Surely Manchester United have aspirations of being the best team in the country again and winning the Premier League. For them to do that, I would suggest that they need a centre-forward that is one of the best in the world. Is Sesko one of the ten best centre-forwards in the world? No, I don’t think he is.”

Owen acknowledged that more game time could be the route to unlocking Sesko’s potential, but stopped short of calling for an immediate change in approach. “How do you get him there? Well, maybe you play him a bit more and give him more experience. Maybe that is the way forward. But as things stand now, if I was picking the team yesterday, I would have done exactly the same as Michael Carrick. I don’t think he’ll be having sleepless nights.”

The former Liverpool and Real Madrid forward was also keen to temper the criticism directed at Sesko following the derby defeat, pointing to United’s 5-0 win over Ipswich as evidence that the striker can contribute meaningfully from the bench. “I think Sesko is a great impact player,” Owen added. “He’s scored goals from starting and from coming off the bench. He’s a good player to have in your squad, but I don’t think there should be a massive clamour all of a sudden just because they didn’t score a goal in the game.”