Sesko ruled out until February as Manchester United's striker crisis deepens

Benjamin Sesko will not return to action for Manchester United until February, according to a report from The Sun, with the Slovenian striker’s injury proving significantly more serious than manager Michael Carrick initially suggested.

Sesko missed United’s 1-1 draw with Fulham last month, with Carrick at the time sounding cautiously optimistic, saying the 23-year-old had “just felt a little bit of pain” after the preceding Carabao Cup match against Brighton and had hoped it was “not too bad”. Slovenian outlet Ekipa, cited by Sport Witness, was the first to indicate the diagnosis “doesn’t look good”, and a subsequent report from Planet Nogomet revealed Sesko had undergone an MRI scan in London to assess what it described as a “repetition of problems that have plagued” him previously.

The concern, with no fracture or break identified, is that Sesko may be managing a chronic condition requiring an extended recovery period rather than a straightforward structural injury. It would not be the first time: the striker returned to pre-season carrying a shin problem sustained in May, and missed six matches for club and country last winter with a knee issue.

Carrick is expected to provide a more precise timeline for Sesko’s return in the coming days, but the news arrives at a deeply difficult moment for United. The club have managed just one Premier League win this season and will be without their first-choice striker as they face Como away before hosting fellow strugglers Bournemouth at the weekend.

In Sesko’s absence, Carrick has leaned on Matheus Cunha and Marcus Rashford to lead the line, with Joshua Zirkzee — signed from Bologna last summer — yet to start a league game this term. The Dutch forward has accumulated less than an hour of Premier League football and made three further cameo appearances in cup and European competition, struggling to make an impact in any of them.

With United having considered moving Zirkzee on during the summer transfer window, the club now faces a decision over whether to give him a genuine opportunity or pursue a replacement for Sesko in January, when the transfer market reopens.