Man Utd striker Sesko fit and ready for derby day

Benjamin Sesko joined Manchester United from RB Leipzig in 2025 [Getty Images] Manchester United forward Benjamin Sesko says a patient response to the shin injury he suffered last season has paid off ahead of today's Manchester derby against rivals City. When Sesko came on as a second half substitute at Hull on 22 August, he was ending a three-and-a-half-month absence from Michael Carrick's side. The Slovenian forward got injured against Liverpool on 3 May when he was shoved off the Old Trafford pitch by Ibrahima Konate. At the time, Carrick confirmed it was a shin injury but said his £74m frontman had been dealing with the problem for 'some time'. It had been anticipated Sesko would recover in time to feature at some point in United's pre-season campaign, but that turned out not to be the case. "Obviously I got a kick last season, but it was also a little bit overload for myself," said Sesko. "It was my shin. It just needed a little bit longer than usual. "Basically, we wanted to make sure it didn't get worse because if you start too early it might appear again. I think it was a great decision to wait a little longer because now it's healed, so it's perfect." Sesko followed up his first goal of the season at Everton last weekend by adding another to his tally in Thursday's Champions League triumph over Sabah FK. It has taken his overall return to 12 in his last 19 games. Given he provides a different threat to United's other forwards, it puts him line for a starting spot in the first meeting with City since Enzo Maresca took charge. Sesko seemed to have bulked up his physique when he returned to training. Club sources say this was a consequence of his extended rest period, which left him needing to reduce his body fat percentage. "Obviously, I had quite some time from the injury that I could gain some muscle. I lost so much already because I was overweight with muscles and couldn't really move so much. But now I feel very good and I think I'm in the right place, way better especially than last season, because obviously I changed countries and everything was new. "But now I'm really enjoying it, I'm happy here, I love life here, my teammates are perfect and I can't really complain about anything."