Key Man Ruled Out As Man Utd Announce 20-Man Squad For PSV Game

Manchester United have announced their squad for tomorrow night’s Champions League clash with PSV Eindhoven and Wayne Rooney is the key name missing from the travelling party.

United return to Europe’s elite club competition after booking their place in the group stages with a comfortable victory over Club Brugge in the play-off round last month.

Louis van Gaal’s men kick off their campaign with an away clash against PSV on Tuesday night but the club have confirmed this morning that Rooney will once again miss out due to a hamstring injury he sustained in training last week.

The injury kept the skipper out of Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool and he’ll now also be forced to sit out the trip to Holland as well, but van Gaal has previously indicated he hoped to have the striker available again for the Southampton game this coming weekend.

With Rooney unavailable, young striker James Wilson has been drafted in to offer United more options up front while Andreas Pereira is also named in the 20-man squad that will head off to the Netherlands today.

Here is the squad van Gaal has selected, as confirmed on ManUtd.com:

Goalkeepers

David De Gea, Sergio Romero;

Defenders

Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian, Paddy McNair, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia;

Midfielders

Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, Andreas Pereira, Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Juan Mata, Ashley Young;

Attackers

Memphis Depay, Marouane Fellaini, Anthony Martial, James Wilson.

Obviously it’s a big blow for United to be without Rooney tomorrow night but they showed against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Saturday that they can cope with his absence.

I expect Marouane Fellaini may keep his place as the focal point in attack, although new-boy Anthony Martial is pushing for a his first start after coming off the bench to score a superb goal on his debut against the Merseysiders.

Whatever team he puts out, I’m sure van Gaal will be desperate to make a positive start in the Champions League with a win over PSV on Tuesday night.