Manchester United are expected to be without Kobbie Mainoo until at least the end of March, handing Ruben Amorim yet another problem to deal with.
Mainoo suffered a calf injury in training and missed the 1-0 defeat by Tottenham on Sunday. Amorim was forced to name a substitutes’ bench with just one senior player on it for that match after his squad was decimated by injuries and illness.
United are languishing in 15th place in the Premier League, enduring their worst campaign in 51 years and their misery doesn’t appear to be easing off ahead of a tricky match at Everton on Saturday. The club has not put a timeframe on Mainoo’s absence, yet The Daily Star reports that his muscle injury won’t ease off until after the next international.
That means Mainoo isn’t expected back on the field until United’s game against Nottingham Forest on April 1 at the earliest, which is bad news for Thomas Tuchel as well as Amorim. Tuchel will take charge of his first two matches as England boss next month when the Three Lions play Albania and Latvia in games Mainoo wouldn’t be available for.
Tuchel has been a visible presence at several Premier League games since taking up the role at the start of the year. He will soon be tasked with naming his first squad for the World Cup qualifiers at Wembley. The injury to Mainoo has ruled him out of contention.
The 19-year-old midfielder will be on the sidelines for United’s upcoming games against Everton, Ipswich, Fulham, Arsenal and Leicester at least. But while he cannot take part on the pitch, he still made an appearance at a team bonding night out on Wednesday.
He joined the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven and Manuel Ugarte to go bowling, play darts, shuffleboard, table tennis and pool before heading to a steakhouse for dinner.
Amorim will be hoping that raised spirits can help him turn things around, but he also needs more players available. Amad has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury that required surgery, Jonny Evans has a bad back, Lisandro Martinez is out for the season with a knee problem, while Mason Mount (hamstring), Luke Shaw (hamstring), Ugarte and Toby Collyer (knocks) and Leny Yoro and Christian Eriksen (illness) were all missing against Spurs.
“I have a lot of problems. My job is so hard but I’m here to continue my job to the next week with my beliefs,” Amorim said after losing against Tottenham. “Just focus on the next game and let’s do everything to win some games to finish the season and then think in the big picture. In this moment it is to try to keep the players healthy, recover some players and to focus on what we have to do in the next game. That is our goal.”
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