Scholes and Butt Critique Manchester United's Striker Situation
Manchester United’s season took another unwelcome twist with fresh concern over Benjamin Sesko’s fitness – and two club greats have made it clear they are far from convinced by the situation.
Sesko, a £74 million signing from Leipzig in the summer of 2025, has barely had a chance to settle. He missed the entire pre-season with a leg problem first sustained last term, after taking a kick during United’s win over Liverpool in May.
He has since been eased in. A start in the Champions League against Sabah. Another in the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton. Cameos off the bench in United’s first four league games. Then, suddenly, nothing.
On Sunday at Craven Cottage, as United scraped a 1-1 draw with Fulham, Sesko was nowhere to be seen. He did not travel to London. Michael Carrick, asked about the striker’s condition, could not give a clear update on the severity of the injury.
Tests this week are expected to shape the club’s treatment plan. For a side already stumbling through a disastrous start to the season, it is another blow in an area of the pitch they could least afford problems.
“How can Manchester United have only one striker?”
On the latest episode of “The Good, the Bad and the Football”, former United midfielders Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes turned their fire on the club’s planning up front before questioning the nature of Sesko’s absence.
United opted against signing another out-and-out centre-forward in the summer window. That decision has left Joshua Zirkzee – with nine goals in 77 games – as the only recognised alternative at No 9.
For Butt, that call was baffling. “The back four is a big problem, but for me, the bigger problem is the number 9,” he said, quoted by English newspaper Metro. “How can Manchester United have only one striker? Who is injured, and with what injury, is it a leg injury?”
Scholes, never one to sugar-coat, cut in with a barbed line: “How do you get injured in your leg? Isn’t that a broken leg? Can’t you just wear shin pads?”
Butt doubled down. “Either you break your leg, or you play. Wear shin pads or padding, I don’t quite understand it. It’s hard to discuss without knowing what it is.”
Carrick waits, questions grow
For now, Carrick can only wait on the medical reports. The club will hope the tests bring clarity, if not immediate relief.
But the bigger issue lingers. A £74m striker sidelined again. A squad carrying only one orthodox centre-forward. A season already veering off course.
If this is how United look in September, what happens when the fixtures pile up and the pressure really starts to bite?
