Benjamin Sesko was forced off with an injury in Manchester United's draw with Tottenham Hotspur before the international break and is now a major doubt for Everton
Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko was absent from training ahead of Monday night's clash with Everton. The forward limped off against Tottenham Hotspur before the international break, leaving the Reds a man down for the rest of the game.
Sesko headed straight for the tunnel after his injury, and manager Ruben Amorim hinted that he might need to dip into the transfer market if the injury turns out to be a long-term problem.
It remains unclear whether this will be necessary, but Sesko was not seen at Friday morning's training session. Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo were also not seen at the session.
Since making his full debut for United, Sesko has either been chosen to start by Amorim or the team has played without a striker. The latter strategy was used in matches against Liverpool and Tottenham.
If Sesko is unavailable, Joshua Zirkzee could be called upon, although so far this season the Dutchman has only played a total of 90 minutes over five appearances.
It seems more likely that United will stick with the same system they used against Spurs. This would involve Amad potentially playing alongside Bryan Mbeumo, with Matheus Cunha leading the line as a false nine.
Alternatively, Mason Mount could be recalled to the starting line-up. He made a strong impression when he came on against Tottenham, setting up two chances for Sesko in the 2-2 draw.
Amorim will give an update on Sesko's injury at his press conference this afternoon. But speaking earlier this month, the United boss hinted that the injury - along with Bryan Mbeumo's impending absence to play in the AFCON - could force them into January transfer business.
He said: “He had something in his knee so we have to see. We have to check everything, we have to check what’s happened with Ben. Of course, we are going to have a problem there (AFCON), but we already knew that.
“We knew that we would have a lot of players who are not going to play because it’s one game a week, so we knew that trying to manage that situation was going to be hard.
“Let’s see when the window is open, if we can improve the team, and try to repair something that happened. Until then we have to take the chance. We’ll see.”