Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has said that Amad Diallo could return before the end of the campaign.
The Ivory Coast international had been in excellent form for the 20-time English champions before suffering an ankle injury at the start of February, which had been expected to end his season.
However, Amorim, speaking during his press conference to preview Sunday’s game against Arsenal, has revealed that the 22-year-old does have a chance of returning to action before the 2024-25 campaign has concluded.
Man United’s last Premier League fixture will be against Aston Villa at the end of May, while the Europa League final will be played on May 21 at Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames stadium.
“No, no, I think it’s just Amad. Even Amad, we’ll see in the end of the last month. I don’t want to say anything to you but I have the hope to have Amad before, we’ll see,” Amorim told reporters.
“Lisandro [Martinez] is out, Kobbie [Mainoo] can return. The rest, my worry is we have to be careful. Manuel [Ugarte] will return, I think Luke Shaw and Mason Mount can return also. We’ll see.”
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Amad could feature for Man United before the end of the season
When asked whether Amad, who has nine goals and seven assists in all competitions this term, could be available for the Europa League final, should Man United make it, Amorim said: “Let’s talk about Sunday! We’ll see but they definitely are going to return, especially Mason Mount.”
Man United were missing 10 players through injury against Real Sociedad on Thursday night, and Amorim is unsure whether Harry Maguire or Manuel Ugarte, who were absent due to minor issues, will be available for the game with Arsenal.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. We need to survive Sunday. The team was so tired in the last 20 minutes. We have to prepare for Sunday and then think about this important game in our season on Thursday [the second leg against Real Sociedad] but, in this moment, I don’t know,” said the Red Devils head coach.
“In the Premier League, every game is really important. In our moment, we need to win. It’s always a problem when we don’t win so we have to focus on everything at the same time. I think the biggest problem is to not have all of the players because, in the beginning, people talk about our rotation – especially in Europe, we are changing all the time.
“It’s because of this because it’s really hard and the Europa League is so much harder, in my opinion, than the Champions League. Not the games but the recovery to play Premier League on the weekend, so we have to deal with that.”
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Will Amorim be able to make changes against Arsenal?
When asked about potential changes against Arsenal amid the club’s injury crisis, Amorim insisted that the team “have to be competitive”, seemingly playing down suggestions of youngsters being involved.
“When you are in this kind of club, you cannot think like that with a small squad in this moment. So we are trying to see all the players that are fresh and that are not in danger of getting an injury. Even that, we have to risk a little bit but we have to be competitive on Sunday,” added the Portuguese.
Christian Eriksen and Victor Lindelof were the senior players on the bench against Real Sociedad, but there was also a return to the squad for Toby Collyer, and the midfielder featured off the bench late on.
Chido Obi was not registered for the Europa League, so he missed out on Thursday, but the 17-year-old will be back in contention for Sunday’s blockbuster fixture with Arsenal.
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