Sesko faces second shin injury layoff as United weigh surgery option for £73m striker

Benjamin Sesko is facing a second significant spell on the sidelines this season after the Manchester United striker reported shin pain following the club’s Carabao Cup win over Brighton, with head coach Michael Carrick confirming the £73 million forward’s return date remains unclear.

The 23-year-old only made his comeback on the opening day of the campaign after missing three and a half months with a shin injury sustained last season — an issue that first surfaced during the run-in before worsening against Liverpool in May. He had skipped all of pre-season as a result. Now, having started just two matches — against Sabah in the Champions League and Brighton in the cup — Sesko has broken down again in a similar area.

“It’s not the exact issue, it’s a similar area, but it’s not the exact same thing again,” Carrick said. “We’re kind of still working through it a little bit to see 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.”

United’s medical staff are currently assessing all available treatment options, and surgery has not been ruled out. “Yeah, there’s different things to look at,” Carrick added. “I think he 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 will miss the upcoming fixture against Tottenham, but there is a more positive update elsewhere in the squad. £70 million midfielder Carlos Baleba is edging closer to his competitive debut after getting minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Lausanne-Sport. The Moroccan international was an unused substitute against Fulham three weeks ago.

“He’s certainly getting closer, Carlos,” said Carrick. “It’s been great to have him out on the grass and to see him up close really, and he played a little bit in a training game that we had last week, so that was good for him to get some minutes.”

Carrick was careful to temper expectations around Baleba’s immediate impact, noting the midfielder had missed the tail end of pre-season and still needs time to reach match sharpness. “There’s a little bit of patience there for him to get up to speed. That’s up to us to pick the right time for him as well, but he offers us a lot — he definitely adds to that midfield.”