Manchester United are off until January 28, when they’ll face either Newport County or Eastleigh in the fourth round of the FA Cup. In the meantime, we’ll focus on that very long Red Devils injury list, and who is coming off of it, and when. In this edition, we’ll focus on Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Anthony Martial. In the second part, we’ll cover Mason Mount, Tyrell Malacia and Victor Lindelof.
We’ll start with Shaw, the English international and left back who was expected to play in the draw against Tottenham Hotspur, but as you know, obviously did not. Shaw is recovering from an unspecified muscular injury.
We expected Luke Shaw, we trained with Luke Shaw in preparation for this game, but this morning he dropped out, not fit enough to start,” manager Erik ten Hag said of the Shaw situation.
In other words, Shaw should be fine, and returning very soon.
On to Maguire, who has been missing since the UEFA Champions League swansong against Bayern Munich in December. Slabhead suffered a groin injury during the European elimination clash, but he was supposedly in contention to play yesterday, before ultimately not being selected for the squad.
Overall, it sounds like he’s fine and he will be in contention for the FA Cup.
Finally, we close with Martial, who has been absent for a couple reasons- not just the fitness situation but also his uncertain future with the club. It appears much more likely that the Frenchman forward will leave in the summer, when he’ll be available on a free, instead of this winter transfer window, when United could get some cash back in return.
A move to Fenerbahce failed while his agent shot down the opportunity to join a club in Saudi Arabia. Inter Milan and West Ham are said to be interested too. He also has this very mysterious, unspecified “illness” that has kept him out of action for the past five weeks.
Said Ten Hag ahead of the draw with Spurs:
“He is not fit so he is not okay. So we want all the players to be fit for the game so he is not. We have to make him fit and it is his job as well to get ready for the next game but in this moment he is having medical treatment and he has to recover.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.