Michael Carrick has been dealt a fresh blow. The Manchester United manager could be without striker Benjamin Sesko until at least next January because of injury.
The 23-year-old had been battling the problem since the start of the season, and United carefully managed his minutes in a bid to nurse him back to full fitness. Those efforts now appear to have been in vain.
Sesko has not featured since the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton on 16 September, when he came off in the 66th minute.
The striker missed pre-season with the same complaint, one that also troubled him last season and flared up against Liverpool in May, ruling him out of United's final three Premier League matches.
According to British newspaper "Daily Mail", he will be out until the new year. That leaves Carrick without a main striker during a wretched run of form.
Right winger Bryan Mbeumo is filling in at number 9, having started there in the last five matches across all competitions after Carrick lost faith in Dutchman Joshua Zirkzee.
Sesko joined United from Leipzig in a £73.7 million deal in August 2025. Since then he has featured in 38 matches across all competitions, scoring 14 goals and laying on one assist.
His absence will cover crucial Premier League fixtures against Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, plus at least three Champions League matches.
United sit sixteenth in the Premier League, a single point above the drop zone. The pressure on Carrick keeps building.
Sacking talk hangs over the manager after a modest start to the season, with just one win in eight Premier League rounds.
On top of all that, Carrick is managing a crisis with captain Bruno Fernandes, who publicly criticised his manager in front of the media after the 4-1 defeat to Como in the Champions League.