Sesko out until at least January, missing Liverpool, Arsenal and three Champions League games
Benjamin Sesko is expected to be sidelined until at least January 2027 with a shin injury. Michael Carrick loses his only recognised central striker with United 16th and eight games without a win.
Manchester United will be without Benjamin Sesko until at least January, BBC Sport reported on 28 October. Club sources describe the problem as an impact injury rather than shin splints. The club’s medical staff have been working with specialists on a treatment plan.
The timing could hardly be worse. Carrick loses his only recognised central striker while his side are stuck in the bottom half and without a win in their last eight matches.
Five major fixtures before January will go ahead without Sesko
The fixture list sharpens the blow. United travel to Anfield and the Emirates before the turn of the year. In the Champions League, Roma visit Old Trafford on 3 November. United then go to Sporting CP on 25 November and host RB Leipzig on 8 December. Sesko is expected to miss all three.
Current form offers little cover. United’s only league win came against Ipswich on 30 August. They have not won in any competition since 10 September. Como beat them 4-1 in the Champions League on 21 October. On 25 October, Bournemouth won 3-0 at Old Trafford in a game where Carrick left captain Bruno Fernandes out.
Those results, combined with Sesko’s absence, raise the question of whether United will sign a forward in January.
The same shin has troubled Sesko since last season
The injury has a history. The complaint flared up against Liverpool in May. It kept him out of United’s final three Premier League games last season. It also cost him the whole of pre-season.
United paid £73.7m for Sesko before the 2025-26 season. His two goals this term came against Everton in the Premier League and Sabah FK in the Champions League.
His most recent match ended in the 66th minute against Brighton. The visitors came from two goals down at Old Trafford to knock United out of the Carabao Cup. Carrick said afterwards that Sesko had felt some pain and that the problem was a recurrence of his earlier shin injury.
Sesko then pulled out of the Slovenia squad before a three-week international break. By the build-up to the Tottenham game, Carrick’s description had shifted. The problem was in “a similar area, but it’s not the exact same thing again”, he said, while giving no return date.
Carrick’s pre-match press conference for Saturday’s game against Chelsea has been moved forward to Thursday afternoon. It will be his first media duty since the Sesko news.
