It has been an anxious wait for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer since Harry Maguire suffered an ankle injury during the 3-1 Aston Villa.
Up until that point, the England defender had played 90 minutes in every single Premier League match for Manchester United this season.
Maguire was seen wearing a protective boot as he watched the 2-1 defeat to his former club Leicester City, with the bigger question mark hanging over his involvement in the Europa League final against Villarreal.
Solskjaer conceded the ankle injury, which he picked up in a clash with Anwar El Ghazi, and that the centre-back’s place in the England squad for this summer’s European Championship could also be in jeopardy.
With Maguire’s 100 per cent appearance record and United in the middle of a hectic sequence of four matches in eight days, he was perhaps an injury waiting to happen.
“It’s almost unheard of, the minutes he’s played without missing him,” Solskjaer admitted.
However, it now looks much more hopeful that he could be fit for the Europa League final after all.
Maguire has been named in the 26-man squad travelling to Gdansk after United were able to confirm he had not broken his ankle.
Solskjaer is likely to wait until the day of the game before deciding on the 28-year-old’s fitness. Anthony Martial, on the other hand, will miss out with a knee injury despite having returned to training.
Analysis: Injury at worst possible time
By Joe Short
If ever there was a stat to prove the durability of Harry Maguire, it is the remarkable fact that he has played every minute of Manchester United’s 71 Premier League fixtures since he joined the club in the summer of 2019.
That is, until he was forced off with an injury 78 minutes into the 3-1 win at Aston Villa.
His injury came at precisely the wrong time for United, whose fixture schedule was already stretching Solskjaer’s squad to the limit.
While Gareth Southgate will also have been monitoring the situation, United have defensively fared well for much of the season despite the usual amount of injuries suffered for a Premier League team playing almost immediately after the close of the previous campaign.
Time will tell if the 2020-21 season has an adverse effect on players across the league with burn-out a real issue heading into the Euros.
While United have struggled and soared at times this campaign, one of their core consistencies has been Maguire. Yes, the England man hasn’t been perfect – we all remember the shambles that was the 6-1 defeat to Tottenham – but in general he has been the centre-back United paid Leicester £80m for.
Man Utd remaining fixtures
- Leicester (H) – 11 May
- Liverpool (H) – 13 May
- Fulham (H) – 18 May
- Wolves (A) – 23 May
- Villarreal, Europa League final – 26 May
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2QMWhKy
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