Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko has apologised to Slovenian supporters after withdrawing from their forthcoming fixtures, saying the priority was to remain at Manchester United and concentrate on recovery.<\/p>\n
The striker, who also missed United\u2019s flat draw with Fulham on Sunday, is now back in the treatment room with the same problem. United have confirmed that their forward will \u201cundergo tests\u201d this week, while The Athletic have reported that a \u201cperiod of rest\u201d may still be needed after the international break ends.<\/p>\n
In a post on Instagram, \u0160e\u0161ko said: \u201cI am very sorry that I will have to miss the national team\u2019s upcoming matches,\u201d \u0160e\u0161ko wrote on Instagram. \u201cI have always played for Slovenia\u2014and always will\u2014with heart and pride. Right now, the most important thing is to focus fully on my recovery. I am already working on getting back on the pitch as soon as possible to help both the national team and my club once again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue has been building for some time. \u0160e\u0161ko said the shin problem began last spring and was made worse by his own decision to keep pushing through it. \u201cI got a kick last season, but it was also a little bit of an overload from myself,\u201d he admitted recently.<\/p>\n
That drive has long defined him. He was known for arriving 90 minutes before team-mates and staying behind long after training had finished, a habit that nearly tested Ruben Amorim\u2019s patience. \u201cI\u2019m relaxed,\u201d the Portuguese boss said during \u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s debut season. \u201c[But] he\u2019s not relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u0160e\u0161ko also acknowledged that the summer recovery required patience. \u201cWe just need a little bit longer, longer than usual, because if you start too early, it might appear again,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd I think waiting a little bit longer was a great decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, this setback may indicate that the pause was not long enough. With tests still to come, his return date remains unclear, although the three-week international break should limit the damage. There is still a real chance he will not be ready for United\u2019s match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, Oct. 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u0160e\u0161ko is awaiting tests after another setback, leaving his United return uncertain before Tottenham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,187],"tags":[1836,242,180],"class_list":["post-20194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-tottenham-hotspur","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-injury","tag-player-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20194","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=20194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}