Manchester United expect Benjamin Sesko to be out for at least two more months as he recovers from his shin injury. The £74m signing from RB Leipzig in 2025 has not started a Premier League game this season and has not featured in any capacity since the derby defeat to Manchester City in September.
The Slovenia striker picked up a shin injury last month, a separate issue to the one that prematurely ended his 2025/26 campaign and then ruled him out of United's pre-season schedule. According to The Athletic, Manchester United believe Sesko will be out of action until at least January as he needs more time to recover and then build up his match fitness.
Struggles and Recovery at Old Trafford
Sesko endured a disappointing start to his Old Trafford career following a big-money move from Germany and was one of a number of players to struggle under ex-manager Ruben Amorim. The 23-year-old improved drastically once Michael Carrick took over, scoring six goals throughout the months of January and February and ending the campaign as the club's joint top scorer with 11.
Sesko scored in successive games back in September but has missed Manchester United's last six matches and is set for an even more significant spell on the sidelines.
Expert Insight on Injury Management
Discussing Sesko's issues in an exclusive interview with Metro, Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics, said: 'The risk is always there with recurrence.'
'With injuries like this, you are playing a game of whack-a-mole. They can be very challenging. The first thing you try isn't always going to be the thing that works.'
'They will have been assessing what they did the first time around and now looking at different options. I would be confident they won't just be doing the same thing because that hasn't fixed it. They will want to move on.'
'Caution is the right word here. Given this has flared up again they will be inclined to be more cautious, not less.'
Potential Treatment Options
Smith added: 'In terms of timelines, unless he responds incredibly quickly and very differently than last time around, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a similar time frame and similar time lost as we saw last time.'
'One option is to continue the conservative management. That is the route they have been going down so far.'
'Separately, they may also look at some very specific treatments that are aimed at bone or soft tissue healing.'
'If it keeps resurfacing and imaging points to something more structural like a stress fracture that isn't healing, more invasive options become part of the conversation.'
'Sometimes surgery can be considered. Looking at something like this initially, all you are doing is X-ray which gives you some picture of the bone but you are not going to get everything.'
'So they may have done MRI or CT (scans) on the bone as well to see if they can see any further damage or trauma.'
'Sometimes you get microfractures that aren't healing. They can go in and perform micro fracture treatment around it.'
'They may get in there and put small breaks into the bone to create blood flow and try kickstart the healing process. But that's a very invasive option and you are left dealing with a broken bone and all the time requirements from that to handle.'
'If it keeps recurring beyond this than a more definitive surgical option becomes a bigger part of the conversation. But that is generally a last resort in this scenario when the conservative approaches have had a proper chance and not been successful.'
Current Standing
Manchester United are just 16th in the Premier League ahead of Saturday's clash against Chelsea but Carrick will still be in the dugout at Stamford Bridge after strong speculation he would be sacked.
