Manchester United face being without Benjamin Sesko for the rest of the year.

Sesko has not started a Premier League game this season and has not featured in any capacity since the derby defeat to Manchester City midway through September.

The Slovenia international picked up a shin injury last month – thought to be an issue separate to the one that ended his 2025-26 season early and ruled him out for the entire pre-season campaign.

He returned to action in September, scoring in back-to-back games against Everton and Sabah before his latest issue struck. The 23-year-old stayed in Manchester during last month’s international break to begin undergoing tests to determine the severity of the issue and has not returned to training since. Michael Carrick hopes to offer a clearer picture on his status when he speaks to the media on Friday.

The Sun however report United are bracing themselves for bad news with fears the striker will be ruled out for four months after extensive tests and checks at Carrington.

Having scored a goal every 85 minutes under Carrick last season, his 2025-26 campaign came to a premature end in May after a heavy landing down Old Trafford’s famous slope around the edge of the pitch against Liverpool, aggravating a shin injury in the process. Sesko had initially suffered the injury in early spring, carrying the problem as United chased down third place.

Sesko’s injury is one that is difficult to judge without intimate knowledge of what’s going inside the United medical room. But this latest setback would suggest he would have perhaps benefited with more recovery time – even if his side have started the season in desperate need of a formidable presence up front.

Sesko has not started a Premier League game since 3 May with his rehabilitation stretching across the summer months and into September. United staff have already seen the patient approach fall short. There are different options going forward but it now appears there will be another extended layoff for the player.

‘The risk is always there with recurrence. With injuries like this, you are playing a game of whack-a-mole,’ Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics, told Metro.

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‘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. 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.’

What are United’s options – will Sesko need surgery?

As Carrick alluded to in his press conference this week, there has been extensive testing on Sesko’s shin which may have uncovered something new. It will be then up to the club to decide which action to take.

‘One option is to continue the conservative management. That is the route they have been going down so far,’ Smith continued. ‘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.’

How much trouble are United in up front?

A prolonged absence for the RB Leipzig star will heighten United’s concerns in attack having failed to sign another centre forward this summer despite Sesko’s shin problems.

And given how tight the purse strings were in the final weeks of the summer, a major arrival in January seems unlikely.

Carrick may be forced to continue playing with the hand he has been dealt. Bryan Mbeumo has led the line in United’s last three matches with four goals this season. He is United’s best available option with excellent finishes against Tottenham and Leeds demonstrating he is a reliable goal scorer.

But it stretches an already thin squad. Joshua Zirkzee, who almost left the club on deadline day to join Everton, is the only other alternative and has started just one match since Carrick took the reins in January.

Matheus Cunha was given the role through the middle in the opening weeks of the season but was unconvincing, more adept off the left.

Marcus Rashford has also been deployed up top at various stages in his career but it is an option Carrick has not turned to yet.

JJ Gabriel spent much of last season playing as a false nine for United’s Under-18s but any hopes of him being part of their future appear to have been extinguished. Chido Obi is out on loan with Dutch side Willem II with the cupboard looking worryingly bare for United.