Sesko Injury Deepens Manchester United's Early-Season Troubles

Manchester United’s season took another unwelcome twist with fresh doubts over the fitness of big-money striker Benjamin Sesko – and two club greats are already questioning the whole situation.

Sesko, a £74 million signing from Leipzig in the summer of 2025, has barely had a chance to settle. He missed the entire pre-season with a leg problem first suffered at the end of last term, when he took a kick in the win over Liverpool in May. The issue has never really gone away.

He was eased in: a start in the Champions League against Sabah, another in the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton, and four substitute appearances in the league. Then, suddenly, nothing. No place in the squad at all for Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage. He didn’t even travel to London.

Michael Carrick could offer no clarity afterwards. The United manager admitted he could not yet say how serious the injury is, with tests this week expected to determine the club’s next move. For a side already stumbling through a disastrous start to the campaign, the timing could hardly be worse.

“How can Manchester United have only one striker?”

The decision not to sign another orthodox No 9 in the summer now looks brutally exposed. United went into the season with Sesko as the headline forward and Joshua Zirkzee – nine goals in 77 matches – as the only other recognised striker.

On the latest episode of “The Good, the Bad and the Football”, that gamble drew sharp criticism from former midfielder Nicky Butt, who could barely hide his disbelief.

“The back four is a big problem, but for me, the bigger problem is the number 9,” Butt said, quoted by the English newspaper Metro. “How can Manchester United have only one striker? Who is injured, and with what injury, is it a leg injury?”

The uncertainty around Sesko’s condition clearly grated. For Butt, the lack of information jars with the scale of United’s reliance on the 22-year-old.

Scholes and Butt question the injury

Paul Scholes responded with typically dry humour. “How do you get injured in your leg?” he asked. “Isn't that a broken leg? Can't you just wear shin pads?”

The joke carried an edge. Scholes, who played through his share of knocks, was echoing the frustration many supporters feel when a key signing disappears from the squad without explanation.

Butt doubled down. “Either you break your leg, or you play. Wear shin pads or padding, I don't quite understand it. It's hard to discuss without knowing what it is.”

That last line cuts to the heart of the issue. United have a £74 million centre-forward, an already thin attack, and no clear public diagnosis. Until those tests land and Carrick has firm answers, the club are left with a single out-and-out striker and a growing sense that their season’s fragile plan is already starting to unravel.