Phil Jones made his first start in 708 days as Manchester United took on Wolves in the Premier League.
With Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly ruled out through injury, interim manager Ralf Rangnick named the Englishman alongside summer signing Raphael Varane at the heart of defence.
It will mark Jones’ first start in the Premier League since a 2-0 defeat to Burnley on 22 January 2020. His last appearance came in an FA Cup fourth round win against Tranmere Rovers six days later.
The 29-year-old has since spent the best part of two years on the sidelines with a knee injury which required surgery last summer.
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“I think as a footballer, as a person, as a human being, that’s the lowest I probably ever felt in my life.
“You try and get a balance between football and family life but it was so difficult going home and trying to look after the kids. You’re there, but you’re not there, you’re not present.”
Jones has been a figure of fun at times since joining in a £16.5m deal as a teenager but after this long injury lay-off he has clearly impressed Rangnick.
“He was extremely professional all the time even when he wasn’t in the squad,” Rangnick told MUTV before kick-off on Monday. “We knew since last night our other two centre-backs that played against Burnley [last Thursday] were out, so for me it was the logical choice.”
On Maguire’s absence, the manager added: “Harry got a knock on his chest against Burnley we hoped he would be ok but yesterday he was trying and it wasn’t possible he had too much pain even just standing around it wasn’t possible for him to play.”
Man Utd team vs Wolves
Starting XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Jones, Shaw; McTominay, Matic; Greenwood, Sancho; Cavani, Ronaldo (c)
Subs: Henderson, Dalot, Telles, Fred, Fernandes, Lingard, Van de Beek, Elanga, Rashford
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3JD2boh
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