Šeško's Impact on Manchester United's Derby Dilemma
MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United strolled through their UEFA Champions League return, but Benjamin Šeško walked off with Michael Carrick’s biggest dilemma of the week.
Sabah FK, champions of Azerbaijan and rookies on this stage, barely laid a glove on United in a 4-0 procession at Old Trafford on Thursday night. The contest was routine. The consequences for Sunday’s Manchester derby are anything but.
Šeško forces the issue
Šeško has been made to wait. Injured in early May, he missed the entire preseason and watched the first three Premier League games — against Hull City, Ipswich Town and Everton — from the bench. For a 23-year-old striker trying to plant a flag in a new season, it was a long, frustrating summer.
That wait is starting to look like a loaded spring.
He scored at Hill Dickinson Stadium at the weekend to turn heads. Given a start against Sabah, he didn’t waste the opening. Late in the first half, he took Bryan Mbeumo’s pass in stride, glided around the goalkeeper and tucked in his second goal in five days. It was a simple finish, but the kind that screams centre-forward’s instinct.
Šeško lasted 63 minutes before Carrick sent on Joshua Zirkzee. That change told its own story. Either Šeško is still being nursed back to full sharpness, or Carrick was already thinking about City and saving his striker’s legs. The answer arrives on Sunday.
"It's not an easy decision," Carrick admitted. "Of course it's not, but it's definitely one I'd prefer to have -- goals in the team and for the boys to be playing well.
"Sometimes it's going to be a start, sometimes it's going to be finishing the game, and we need that within the group from game to game over the season."
What’s no longer in doubt is that Šeško has muscled his way into the conversation. Now comes the brutal part: if he starts the derby, who sits?
A crowded front line
United’s attacking puzzle is suddenly crowded with form players.
Mbeumo, who set up Šeško’s goal here, scored a brilliant solo effort against Everton. Matheus Cunha opened his account for the season with the first goal against Sabah. Marcus Rashford, rested on Thursday as an unused substitute, was United’s standout performer last weekend.
Drop one, and you weaken something. Pick Šeško, and someone with a strong claim loses their place.
What might tilt it his way is the contrast he brings. While Rashford, Cunha and Mbeumo buzz between the lines and attack space from wider areas, Šeško offers a true No. 9 presence — a fixed point for crosses, a target when United go wide, a reference for runners around him.
He showed more than just penalty-box instincts. Early in the second half, he chased down a Sabah defender, ripped the ball away and ignited a roar from Old Trafford almost as loud as his goal celebration. Supporters notice that kind of graft, especially from a striker whose profile is usually defined by height and finishing.
"He definitely offers a different kind of threat," Carrick said. "I think that's kind of the beauty of it. That we know what Ben gives us, and there's not many around that give you what Ben does in terms of his physique, his physicality, playing on the last line, his speed to run in behind. He's a real threat.
"It's great to have him back at this level after working to get back to fitness. So, a couple of goals and good performances, good minutes for him. We're really pleased with the way he's gone."
Carrick wanted options. Now he has a very loud one.
Dream return to Europe, nagging problems at the back
United’s broader night in Europe was almost too comfortable to be instructive. Back in the Champions League for the first time since 2023, they dismantled a club founded only nine years ago, racking up four goals and a clean sheet without ever being stretched.
"It was what we set out to achieve, really," Carrick said. "I think it was a good performance, individually, collectively, pretty much all the way through the game, from start to finish."
For all the ease of the evening, the head coach’s selection issues extend beyond the forward line.
Luke Shaw started every Premier League game last season, but questions have lingered all summer about how his body would handle a heavier load with European football back on the schedule. The early signs are worrying.
Shaw came off in the 2-2 draw with Everton on Sunday due to cramps. He then missed Wednesday’s session at Carrington, officially chalked up as a "designated rest day." He wasn’t in the squad at all against Sabah and was given Thursday off as well. None of that would cause alarm if United had a clear, trusted deputy at left-back.
They don’t.
Patrick Dorgu filled in against Sabah and delivered the assist for Cunha’s opener, but Carrick has primarily used him as a winger. Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot can flip to the left, yet both are more comfortable on the right. Harry Amass is a natural left-back, but he is only 19. A summer move for Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall went nowhere.
So, even in early September, Carrick is already juggling Shaw’s workload, picking his moments and hoping the England defender can be patched up for the derby.
Derby on the horizon
The challenge on Sunday is complicated further by the fixture list. Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City have been handed an extra two days to prepare, a gap Carrick has already labelled "wasn't ideal."
At least United walk into the first Manchester derby of the season with momentum and confidence, not scars. A smooth Champions League victory, goals spread around, minutes managed, no drama.
And in the middle of it all, Šeško — the striker who wasn’t ready to start the season — has crashed the plans for the biggest game of United’s campaign so far.
Carrick wanted competition. Now he has a decision that could shape the derby: does he ride the form of his emerging No. 9, or trust the established names who got him this far?
