Man Utd Team News Update: van Gaal Confirms Triple Injury Boost But Duo Ruled Out

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has confirmed a triple injury boost ahead of this weekend’s Premier League clash with Norwich City but two players have been ruled out of the match.

van Gaal has been holding his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s told ManUtd.com that Wayne Rooney, Ander Herrera and Chris Smalling have all taken part in a full weeks training this week.

Rooney has missed United’s last three games after picking up an ankle injury during the 1-1 draw at Leicester City towards the end of last month but he’s back in training and could make his comeback against Norwich this weekend.

Smalling has not featured since suffering a groin injury during the 3-2 Champions League defeat to Wolfsburg 10 days ago while Herrera has been on the sidelines for over a month with a hamstring problem, but both players have been training this week and could return to the squad tomorrow.

There could be a further boost for United as van Gaal also revealed that Ashley Young is on the comeback trail after picking up a minor knock during last weekend’s defeat to AFC Bournemouth but it remains to be seen whether he’ll be passed fit to face the Canaries.

It wasn’t all positive news though as van Gaal also confirmed that Matteo Darmian will once again miss out due to a hamstring injury that he suffered against Wolfsburg while Jesse Lingard is also ruled out with an injury he picked up last weekend.

He told United’s website:

“There are more or less three players who are trained this week, for a full week, so that’s not bad,”

“The players who have trained this week are Rooney, Herrera, Smalling and Young is also coming back I think, but we have to wait and see.”

“The last match he [Young] had a slight problem, he was feeling something and we cannot take the risk I think. We have investigated that this week. He shall train today [Friday], so we shall have to wait and see if he is available.

“Lingard is out of the question, and Darmian is out of the question. These are the players who are available and then we have to decide if they can play or not because some players like Herrera are already three or four weeks out of office.”

It will be a major boost for United to have Rooney and Herrera back as they’ve lacked creativity in recent games so no doubt van Gaal will be praying they are passed fit and made available for selection.

Smalling’s return would also come as a significant boost as he’s arguably been United’s best player this season and his return would allow Daley Blind to revert to his more familiar left-back slot.

However, we’ll have to wait and see whether the trio are passed fit to play or if they’ll remain on the sidelines with long-term injury victims Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia, while Bastian Schweinsteiger will also miss the Norwich game as he continues to serve his three-match ban.