Ruben Amorim has confirmed that Manchester United could welcome back Benjamin Sesko against Bournemouth, but Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire have been ruled out.
The 22-year-old, who arrived from RB Leipzig in August in a £73.7m deal, picked up the injury in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur before the international break. He couldn’t finish the game after coming on in the second half.
Since then, Amorim has had little choice but to reshuffle his attacking choices, which has led to previously overlooked striker Joshua Zirkzee working his way back into contention.
The manager has now indicated that the Slovenia forward has shaken off the knee problem that ruled him out of United’s last four fixtures. However, he may still be unavailable for Bournemouth’s Monday night trip to Old Trafford after dealing with an illness over the past few days.
‘We have to see if he’s available,’ Amorim told reporters on Friday.
‘He had some [food] poisoning, but we’ll see. Let’s wait.
‘We have two trainings still. Benjamin, we will assess.’
In addition, Amorim has made it clear that United will undoubtedly be without Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt when they face Bournemouth. Maguire—who, like Sesko, has been missing since the clash with Spurs because of a hamstring issue—has still not returned to training at Carrington.
Sesko doubtful, Maguire & De Ligt ruled out
De Ligt, on the other hand, sat out the matches against West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers after suffering a minor problem that Amorim suspects is related to his back, and the club have no intention of risking him unnecessarily.
‘Maguire is out, De Ligt is out,’ Amorim said.
‘I think he [De Ligt] has something in his back; I don’t know for sure.
‘Sometimes you see it’s not a big injury because he finished the game quite well against Crystal Palace, but he has some pain.
‘You sometimes think it will be solved during this week, but sometimes he feels a little bit of pain, and we have to be a little careful with that.’
United’s record against Bournemouth in recent seasons has been underwhelming, failing to claim a win in four consecutive Premier League encounters (D2 L2), a more extended drought than in their first dozen meetings with the Cherries (W9 D1 L2).
However, the broader league form offers encouragement. Following Monday’s 4-1 triumph over Wolves, United have lost just once in nine Premier League matches (W5 D3), with that sole defeat occurring in a 1-0 home loss to Everton at Old Trafford last week.
