The Slovenia striker has not played since mid-September, and Michael Carrick says there is still no clear timeline for his return.
Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a shin injury, head coach Michael Carrick has confirmed.
The 23-year-old has not played since starting the Carabao Cup defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion on 16 September. United expect to be without him until at least January, The Athletic reported.
“Unfortunately, Ben looks like he’s going to be out for a period of time,” Carrick said at his press conference before this weekend’s Premier League trip to Chelsea. “We’re still not clear on exactly how long but it’s going to be a longer period of time.”
Carrick said the club had needed to see how the injury responded to rest before deciding on treatment.
“We had to go through the process, a bit of a healing process for the injury, to see how it would react, in what direction to go with that,” he said. “So, even now, we’re still working through it.”
“Obviously, first and foremost, for Ben, for the kind of period that he’s had and tried to get through it. Going through this again, and for us to not have him available, is obviously a blow, but we’ll try to get him back as quick as we can.”
A week after the Brighton game, United said Sesko would “undergo tests this week before defining his individual recovery plan”. The club’s medical staff have since been consulting specialists on the best course of treatment, according to the same report.
The injury relates to a problem Sesko suffered last season, when he took a kick to the shin but played on through the final two months of the campaign as United chased Champions League qualification.
He was forced off against Liverpool after a push from Ibrahima Konaté led to a collision that made the problem worse, having earlier scored to put United 2-0 up. He missed the last three games of the season.
United opted for rest rather than surgery, and Sesko sat out pre-season. He pushed to return in August and came off the bench in the season opener at Hull City, but the problem recurred in a similar area of his leg.
The injury is not considered chronic, but the club and player want him fully recovered before he returns, to minimise the risk of a setback.
Sesko, a Slovenia international, joined United from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2025 in a deal reported to be worth up to £73.7m. He began his career at Red Bull Salzburg before moving to Leipzig in 2023.
He has two goals in six appearances this season, against Everton and Sabah. Last season he scored 12 Premier League goals despite starting only 17 games, eight of them after Carrick took charge in January.
He is United’s most natural penalty-box striker, and his absence leaves Carrick relying on attackers who prefer to drift between the lines.
Before moving to England, Sesko had rarely been injured. He missed 61 days across three muscle problems at Salzburg in the 2021-22 season, according to Transfermarkt, but has now been unavailable for 154 days since joining United.
United travel to Chelsea this weekend, with matches at home and in Europe to follow in the coming weeks, all without their first-choice striker.