April 27, (THEWILL) – Interim manager Ralf Rangnick has revealed that Manchester United will be without six first-team players when Chelsea visits Old Trafford on Thursday.
United were without Luke Shaw, Fred, Edinson Cavani, and Paul Pogba for Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal, with centre-back Harry Maguire starting on the bench after his family received a bomb threat.
Rangnick has confirmed that Maguire will join the aforementioned quartet on the sidelines due to a minor knee injury. Maguire was expected to return to the starting lineup for the Chelsea game.
To make matters worse, Jadon Sancho is out with tonsillitis, while right-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, is a huge doubt for the match due to an illness that Rangnick could not disclose.
“Fred is unfortunately not yet available,” the German boss noted.
“He tried to train yesterday but after training I had a long conversation with him and he just told me that he doesn’t feel fully fit, he’s not at 100%, and with a player like Fred who’s always committed to give his very best, I don’t think it makes sense, with the muscular injury that he had, to play him too early, because that would mean we take the risk of a re-injury and this is something that I don’t want to do. So he won’t be available unfortunately tomorrow.
“And apart from that we have Harry Maguire who is not available. He has some issues with his knee, not a big thing – some niggle in his knee. He hasn’t been training, neither yesterday or today.
“Paul obviously, Fred, Edinson, Luke Shaw and Jadon – Jadon is ill, he has tonsillitis since yesterday, couldn’t train today and will also not be available tomorrow.”
Rangnick said that with so many first-team players unavailable, it is “possible” that he will give some of United’s academy stars a chance to shine.
“We have quite a few players missing tomorrow and one or two still with question marks so we will have to wait and see until tomorrow to see if, for example, Aaron Wan-Bissaka can play,” he explained.
“I already played Hannibal at Liverpool so it’s possible [I’ll play youngsters] but we also have to be fair enough to those players.
“It has to be the right moment, they should have a chance to play well and perform well so it’s not just pushing them into a game. I think it should also be the right moment.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
