Michael Carrick is expecting Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s output to rise, despite the striker\u2019s subdued opening to the 2026\/27 campaign. Manchester United did not add a new forward in the summer window, and the long-term plan remains for the 23-year-old to lead the line, provided he stays fit.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters on Friday as United prepare to meet Everton on Sunday, Carrick stressed that the striker\u2019s conditioning is still progressing. \u201cBen is improving his fitness all the time, he has had some time off, which was important. Moving forward, no setbacks and giving us and him the chance to stay fit for as long as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s start has drawn attention because it has been slower than expected for last season\u2019s joint top scorer. Yet this is not a new pattern. He also began the previous campaign quietly, scoring only twice in his first 11 Premier League appearances before finding rhythm after Christmas. His next nine league goals arrived across a 14-match spell between Jan. 7 and May 3.<\/p>\n
That late-season surge is why Carrick believes patience is justified. \u201cHe made big strides last season, he is still young and adapting and developing, there is loads more to come,\u201d he said, following reports that some United players wanted another centre forward signed in the summer to ease the burden.<\/p>\n
\u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s career numbers suggest he is still building toward his ceiling. His best Bundesliga return was 14 goals in 2023\/24, when he was 20. But at United, the challenge is also shaped by the club\u2019s recent history. There has not been a truly consistent No. 9 for some time, with the last striker to pass 15 Premier League goals in a season being Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021\/22.<\/p>\n
United made four first-team signings in the window, along with several academy additions. Midfield was the main focus, while Carrick still believes the squad is in a \u201cgood place\u201d and stronger than when the window opened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carrick expects Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko to improve after a slow start, with United still backing their No. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,172],"tags":[242,180,182],"class_list":["post-19151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-epl","tag-injury","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}