van Gaal Offers Injury Update On Di Maria, Rooney & Blind

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has given ManUtd.com an update on the fitness of Wayne Rooney, Angel Di Maria and Daley Blind after last night’s 2-1 win over Stoke City.

Rooney sat out the game at Old Trafford on Tuesday night after suffering a knee injury during the closing stages of Saturday’s 3-0 win over Hull City after colliding with the advertising hoardings.

The striker is now set to undergo a scan to determine the full extent of the injury and although van Gaal is hopeful it’s nothing too serious, he admitted you never know when it comes to knee injuries.

The Dutch boss told the clubs website:

“It’s his knee, but we have to wait for tomorrow to say anything about him because you never know with a knee,”

“My opinion is it is not so heavy (serious) but I am not a doctor. So we have to wait for the scan then we will know more. But I hope it is not so heavy [serious].”

United coped without their skipper last night with goals from Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata securing a narrow 2-1 win over Mark Hughes’ Stoke side to cement their place in the top four, but they won’t want Rooney to be sidelined for any length of time – particularly with the busy festive period coming up – so van Gaal will be sweating on the results of today’s scan.

Summer signing Angel Di Maria also missed last night’s victory after being forced off against Hull at the weekend with a hamstring strain and while van Gaal doesn’t think the injury is serious, he feels it’s unlikely the Argentinean international will feature against Southampton on Monday.

He continued:

“Di Maria is not so heavy but of course he shall not play against Southampton, but you never know.”

The final update from van Gaal was on the fitness of Daley Blind. The midfielder is currently on the sidelines with a serious knee injury that he suffered while away with the Dutch national team last month, but the United boss think’s he may be ready to return to action towards the end of the month.

“It’s not so heavy as I have already said. Not next week, I don’t know… Christmas maybe – maybe Christmas. At the end of December maybe we see light at the end of the tunnel.” van Gaal said on Blind

Michael Carrick has filled in extremely well during Blind’s absence so far but United will be keen for the 24-year-old to return to action as soon as possible to give them another option in midfield, and it looks like he could target a return against Newcastle United on Boxing Day.