Sesko hoping to be fit to lead United’s attack this season (Picture: Getty) Michael Carrick did what was asked of him in getting Manchester United back into the Champions League last season. The job is now to take the next step. United had among the lightest schedules in the Premier League last season with no European football on offer and did what was largely expected of them in securing third place. A rebuild in midfield began with Casemiro departing and after missing out on Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans arrived. Carlos Baleba could join them but should that deal go through at Old Trafford, he will do so with an injury that will sideline him until September. There were familiar injury problems for certain players last season with Matthijs de Ligt and Benjamin Sesko not involved in pre-season ahead of their league opener against Hull City on Saturday. So who is ready for the battle ahead? Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. Benjamin Sesko’s troublesome shin problem Following his £74million arrival from RB Leipzig last summer, Sesko finished his maiden campaign in Manchester with a respectable haul of 12 goals – the last of which coming in the 2-1 win over Liverpool that saw United tighten their grip on third spot. The Slovenia international took a nasty tumble down the infamous Old Trafford slope after a shove from Ibrahima Konate and did not feature for the rest of the season. While there was no suggestion it was a serious issue at the time, Sesko has not played since, missing every one of United’s pre-season matches. Sesko took a nasty tumble down the Old Trafford pitch (Picture: Getty) Sesko travelled with the squad to Dublin for the friendly game against Leeds, training with the squad since. But with no minutes under his belt, it remains to be seen what role he will have to play in the opening weeks of the new season. Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics, explains shin problems can be challenging at the best of times. One concern at the forefront of United’s mind will be the risk of recurrence which was likely to have been a factor in his lack of pre-season involvement. ‘Things like bone stress reaction or irritation of the outside of the bone are generally painful and slow to heal,’ Smith told Metro. ‘Once he aggravated that [against Liverpool], the healing clock reset. ‘Recurrence risk for injuries like that is very real. Bone stress injuries that aren’t given enough time in recovery… it is well documented that they have the tendency to re-present and re-present more seriously as stress fractures. So the schedule with him is cautious.’ Sesko has missed the entire pre-season (Picture: CameraSport via Getty Images) It presents another dilemma. Match fitness and match sharpness are two very different things and with no minutes under his belt, when will Carrick consider him ready to start a game? ‘Returning just before the season opens with no preseason matches is not ideal but it is manageable if he has been doing significant conditioning work in the background and the bone has healed rather than just being symptom free,’ Smith said. ‘The summer is a double-edged sword. He needs the rest to recover but they also need to progressively load things to be ready for the season. So the shin can be healed but you need to be fit enough to cope with the demands of the game to ensure something else doesn’t happen. It is a balance the must manage.’ When will we see Matthijs de Ligt again? De Ligt was ever-present in United’s starting XI before he sat out of the win over Crystal Palace last November. ‘For Matta, it is a small thing,’ Ruben Amorim optimistically predicted. ‘I expect to have Matthijs [back] next game.’ The Netherlands international has not played since with radio silence over his fitness for much of the campaign. In