Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is still waiting to hear whether Noussair Mazraoui, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo can face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Monday
Ruben Amorim STILL remains in the dark over whether Noussair Mazraoui, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo will be available to take on Bournemouth on Monday as Manchester United await clarity on when they must depart for their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) duties. FIFA recently set December 15 as the release date for players participating in the tournament, but with United scheduled to play Bournemouth that same evening, it has created uncertainty over whether the trio will feature against the Cherries.
Just three days before kick-off, Amorim still doesn’t know if he can rely on those players for the Bournemouth clash and has been compelled to prepare multiple tactical approaches for the match, based on their potential availability. He’s optimistic that the confusion might also unsettle Bournemouth, who cannot prepare for which United side they’ll encounter.
“We are still in conversations with national teams, the game is Monday, they are training and we are trying to prepare all scenarios,” he explained. “It’s frustrating, but at the same time, nobody knows who is going to play, so it’s a good thing. We have players to cope with everything. With a long week you can work on several stuff to prepare the game.”
Mazraoui is set to kick off his AFCON campaign on the tournament’s opening day (December 21), with Morocco facing Comoros, while Amad and Mbeumo won’t see action until Christmas Eve when Ivory Coast take on Mozambique and Cameroon go up against Gabon.
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It was speculated that the release dates for the players could vary based on their tournament start dates, but Amorim stated that this wasn’t certain and he hoped to have clarity by Saturday at the latest. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the same situation,” he commented.
“Every national team has their ideas about when they want the players. I expect today or maybe tomorrow to have a decision, but we are waiting until the last moment to choose the best team.”
United defenders Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt remain absent for the game against Bournemouth. But striker Benjamin Sesko could play for the first time since sustaining a knee injury at Tottenham five weeks ago.
âMaguire is out, De Ligt is out,â said Amorim. âBen we have to see.
âWe have to see if heâs available. He had some (food) poisoning but weâll see. Letâs wait. We have two training (sessions) still. Benjamin we will assess.
â(De Ligt) has something in his back. I donât know for sure. Sometimes you see itâs not a big injury because he finished the game quite well against Crystal Palace, but he has some pain.
âSo, you sometimes think that itâs going to solve during this week but sometimes he feels a little bit of pain and we have to be careful with that.â
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