Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt mock Man Utd star after latest injury setback | Football

Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt are unconvinced by Benjamin Sesko’s latest injury setback.

Sesko, who joined the club from RB Leipzig for £74million in the summer of 2025, missed the entire pre-season due to a shin problem he initially suffered last season.

The striker picked up the injury after getting a kick to his shin in the spring, aggravating the injury after a heavy landing at Old Trafford in a victory over Liverpool in May.

While he started in the Champions League against Sabah and in the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton, he was a substitute in United’s opening four games of the season before being left out of the squad completely on Sunday against Fulham.

Sesko did not make the trip down the capital as United scraped a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage with Michael Carrick unable to give a clearer picture on the severity of the issue. The striker will undergo tests this week before the club decide on a treatment plan but his setback serves as another blow in what has been a disastrous start to the season.

United decided against signing another centre forward in the summer with Joshua Zirkzee, who has scored nine goals in 77 appearances, for the club, their only other option. On the latest episode of The Good, The Bad and The Football, former midfielder Butt lamented the decision not to reinforce the front line before focus switched to Sesko’s injury.

Scholes joked Sesko should ‘put his shinpads on’ with Butt insisting you ‘either break your shin or you play.’

‘The back four is a massive problem but for me the biggest problem is the no9. How can Man United have one centre forward? Who is injured, with what, a shin injury?’ Butt said.

Scholes said: ‘How do you injure your shin? Ain’t that a broken leg? Can’t you just put your shinpads on?’

Butt added: ‘You either break your shin, or you play. Put your shinpads on or you padding on, I don’t quite get it. Without knowing what it is, it is hard to discuss it.’

Their comments were part of a brutal assessment of the United squad which has collected just five points from their opening five games of the Premier League season, leaving them in 12^th place.

With Sesko not starting, Carrick has used Matheus Cunha in a role through the middle with Butt blasting the lack of options available.

‘Paying Cunha as a nine kills him,’ Butt said. ‘He’s nowhere near the player he is off the side. We haven’t got a no9 other than Sesko other than Zirkzee, but he’s been going, staying, going, staying. And when he does come on, he doesn’t look anywhere near a Manchester United no9.

‘Midfield we have good footballers but can’t dominate a game. The back four look an average back four. The right-back, is he going to get you into the top two, top three? No. Harry is past his best. Martinez is a good footballer but he’s not a dominant centre back. We know with Luke he plays three or four games, gets an injury then he’s back in.’

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