The last time Benjamin Sesko played for Manchester United was on 3 May, when he scored in the 3-2 win against Liverpool.
He missed the next game against Sunderland and then was ruled out of the final two games with a shin injury.
And he has not played a single minute of pre-season this summer. The club maintain he has recovered from the injury, but they are erring on the side of caution and easing him back gradually.
That is the crucial point. The ease with which the player has had his first year at the club says something about the new United.
There has been little to no pressure on Sesko since he was signed from RB Leipzig last summer for a figure approaching £74m. He started only 10 out of 10 Premier League games under Ruben Amorim, playing full time just five times in what was essentially the first half of the season.
Most of his 12 goals in his first season came at the turn of the year. And he did not even start regularly under Michael Carrick: he started only six of the new head coach’s 17 games in charge.
Compare that to Sesko’s predecessors at the club over the last decade. Rasmus Hojlund, for example, always had to play unless he was injured. And in fact when he struggled, the advice from pundits was that the club needed him to sit on the bench and observe the game.
Except that never happened because there was no one else to play there. It put a lot of weight on the shoulders of the young man.
Josh’s opener from the stands 🔭
🤳 @Snapdragon x #ShotOnSnapdragon pic.twitter.com/YJ3nKcMd6H
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 12, 2026
It could be argued that a similar thing happened with Marcus Rashford, when he always depended upon to start on the left wing, even when he had a shoulder injury.
There never seemed to be another reliable option for some reason, most likely poor squad planning.
Ineos have got quite a few things wrong at United perhaps, but it is undeniable that they have got plenty right. There was talk about rebuilding the culture around the team, and that has happened to a large extent.
And not just through building healthy relationships among the squad, as Ruben Amorim – to his credit – worked to ensure. A large part of it is also down to recruitment: bringing the right characters is, as well as bringing in multiple options to avoid putting a heavy load on one person’s shoulders.
Sesko has enjoyed this positive atmosphere. It is allowing him to develop without the intense pressure of needing to produce week in week out for one of the biggest clubs in the world.
That’s why United can afford to not give him even a single minute in pre-season, to give him all the time he needs to be fit and ready. Plenty of players across different clubs have been called back earlier than is advisable because the team needed them badly.
Fun and games 🤹♂️ pic.twitter.com/U2rFes2DEh
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 13, 2026
In Sesko’s absence, United have a few other attacking options. Joshua Zirkzee scored in Wednesday’s friendly with Leeds United. It was the team’s ninth goal in five pre-season matches, all played without their main striker Sesko.
But Zirkzee played as a No 10 in that game. Bryan Mbeumo has been the regular man in central positions, and will likely start there in United’s first league game against Hull on 22 August.
Matheus Cunha can play there too, if needed. Zirkzee has of course played as a No 9 before, though he has not always been effective and it is unclear whether Carrick will select him in that role.
United don’t have an overly large squad. But somehow they have built a team where young talents like Sesko can develop without immense pressure on them.
