Injury blow: Man Utd fear key man will miss 5 games including Tottenham & Man City

Manchester United fear Scott McTominay will be forced to miss around four weeks of action which would rule him out of crunch games against Manchester City and Tottenham, according to the Metro.

McTominay was a doubt for United’s win over Brighton on Sunday after picking up an ankle injury during their 3-0 victory over Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League last week.

The Scottish international was passed fit to start against the Seagulls at the weekend but was stretchered off after aggravating his ankle during the closing stages of the 3-1 win at Old Trafford.

Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted after the game he feared losing McTominay for up to eight weeks but he was hoping for good news when the midfielder had his scan on Monday.

Solskjaer is quoted as saying by the Metro:

‘He went over on his ankle. It’s a painful one. I’ve had one and I was out for eight weeks. But then again sometimes you’re back in two weeks, so I don’t know. He’s in for a scan tomorrow, but it looked painful and he’s not one for rolling around’.

The Metro says McTominay underwent an initial scan yesterday but the results proved inconclusive due to the significant amount of swelling around the ankle so the 22-year-old will need to have a second scan later this week once the swelling goes down.

However, the report says United’s medical team have instructed McTominay to wear a protective boot and limit his movements for the rest of the week and he’s already been withdrawn from the Scotland squad ahead of their Euro qualifiers.

We’ll have to wait for the results of the second scan before the full diagnosis is known but the Metro says a source within Man Utd claims the club fear McTominay will be out for around four weeks based on the results of the first scan.

Such a time-frame would mean the midfielder wouldn’t play again until mid-December and would miss upcoming matches against Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Astana after the international break.

A four week absence would mean McTominay also sitting out the huge clash with Tottenham at Old Trafford on December 4th as well as the Manchester derby against City at the Etihad three days later.

The news will come as a big concern to Solskjaer as McTominay has been a key player for United this season and he’s been hugely influential in their recent good run that’s seen them win five of their last six matches in all competitions.