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Benjamin Sesko: Manchester United’s New Star Sub Is Thriving Under Carrick

There is something faintly Solskjaer-esque about the timing.

Not the sentiment, nor the symbolism, nor the soft-focus nostalgia.

Just the timing.

The sense that when matches start to fray, and defenders' legs grow heavy, a figure emerges from the bench to finish the game off.

Benjamin Sesko has begun to inhabit that space at Manchester United.

Benjamin Sesko’s super sub heroics are winning him a new fan nickname 😆 pic.twitter.com/BR7mUG1tkv
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) February 24, 2026

Since Michael Carrick assumed the role of interim head coach at the Red Devils, United’s structure has tightened.

No more of Ruben Amorim’s rigid back three, no more shoehorning players into unfamiliar roles to service a system, just a return to structural clarity and vertical intent.

Within this recalibration, Sesko’s brief may have already been mapped out.

The designated game-changer, the impact option, the ‘super-sub.’

But the Slovenian is not content to live in the margins, and in the eyes of many Manchester United fans, he is deserving of a start.

🛑🇸🇮 Benjamin Šeško has now scored 6 goals in 2026, 8 goals this season so far — his first season at Man United. pic.twitter.com/Ba12T6KG2i
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 23, 2026

Impact under Carrick

Signed from RB Leipzig for £66.4m, the 6ft 4in Slovenian was bought with a long-term view in mind.

He is still extremely young, already capped 45 times by the Slovenian national football team, and has amassed 114 goals across his professional career to date.

But it was safe to say that his career as a Manchester United player had not got off to a strong start.

17 games, two goals, one assist, and the Red Devils sat 6th in the Premier League table.

Since Ruben Amorim departed Manchester United, Benjamin Sesko—and the rest of the United squad—have woken from their 14-month slumber and come alive again.

United have won five of Carrick’s six games in charge, with the 22-year-old Slovenian introduced as a substitute in all but one.

Sesko has scored in three of those outings and came off the bench to earn United all three points at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday.

No player has scored more non-penalty Premier League goals than Benjamin Sesko (5) in 2026 ⚽ pic.twitter.com/uSbBwVMUKA
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 23, 2026

In these outings, the Slovenian has played just 93 minutes, scoring three goals in the process.

Widen the lens slightly, and the numbers grow sharper. Since Amorim’s exit, Sesko has logged 183 minutes of football in total and found the net five times. That equates to a goal roughly every 36 minutes — elite-level productivity, even accounting for sample size.

If we widen the lens once more and take in the entirety of this calendar year, Sesko has the best minutes-per-goal ratio—0.56—out of any player with more than three goals scored in any of Europe’s top five leagues.

Yet despite his prowess, the in-form striker is yet to start a single match under Michael Carrick, and has instead been utilised as an impact substitute.

“I’m getting settled in the league from game to game,” he told The Athletic after Manchester United’s match with Everton on Monday. “Again, I’m not even thinking about “I have to start, I have to start”. Whenever the coach decides to put (me) on, I’m going to be there. If I get five minutes, I’m going to use them. It’s just about trying to enjoy and delivering for the team.

“The way I look at the pressure (of scoring goals for United), it’s something that if I want to be a good player, it’s something that I have to have. I take it as a privilege.

“It’s something that has (to be there) if you want to play at the highest level. It’s about accepting it and not really caring about it. It doesn’t really affect me.”

Whilst Carrick has leaned towards the more fluid attack of Bruno Fernandes, Amad, Cunha, and Bryan Mbeumo, it has not fractured the chemistry among the summer arrivals.

“We (Sesko, Mbeumo and Cunha) understand each other. We do a lot on the training field, and we are working a lot. That’s why (it’s important) to have such quality in the team.”

In the coming week, Manchester United will host Crystal Palace before travelling up north to face off against Newcastle United, who have won just one of their past five Premier League matches.

Both fixtures are momentous in Carrick’s side's goal of qualifying for next season's UEFA Champions League.

Will Sesko start these matches? Only Michael Carrick knows.

What feels increasingly certain, however, is that he will influence them.