Man Utd centre-back Matthijs de Ligt has been out for three months with a back injury but he could return in March.

When Matthijs de Ligt returns to the Manchester United team, which could be within the next month, he will find it is unrecognisable from the last time he pulled on the shirt.

De Ligt last played for United on November 30, when there was still hope that Ruben Amorim could deliver the answers at Old Trafford. That win at Crystal Palace steadied the ship after the disastrous defeat to 10-man Everton, and there was no sense that within five weeks the Portuguese head coach would have left the club.

The brief Darren Fletcher era passed De Ligt by, and his return will now come under Michael Carrick, who has breathed new life into United’s season and given them a golden opportunity to return to the Champions League with 11 Premier League games remaining.

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If there is a problem for De Ligt, beyond returning to full fitness after three months out injured, it is that the change in the dugout means United now field two centre-backs rather than three, and he has lost momentum during his spell on the sidelines.

De Ligt had been intermittently feeling back pain before aggravating it in United’s win at Crystal Palace at the end of November. He came through that fixture and, at the time, had played every minute of the Premier League season to date.

But that run of 1,170 minutes stopped dead in south London and the counter hasn’t started ticking since. A week later, Amorim confirmed the injury but said he expected De Ligt’s absence to be short.

“For Matta, it is a small thing. I expect to have Matthijs next game [at Molineux],” he said. That was the start of December, but De Ligt hasn’t been seen for United since.

Updates from the three head coaches to have taken charge of the first team since then have played down his absence. Carrick referred to De Ligt as having had a setback about a month ago, but then attempted to correct himself and club sources clarified after that press conference that they wouldn’t refer to the issue as a “setback”.

A month has passed since then, and the Dutch centre-back is still not back in training or available for selection, and Amorim’s initial claim that he would be fit to face Wolves at Molineux on Monday, December 8, only adds to the intrigue.

That statement hasn’t helped De Ligt’s situation, although he has remained positive and upbeat during his rehabilitation. It is understood that there has been no significant setback and there is no mystery to the 26-year-old’s absence. It is simply the case that the issue has proven harder to shift than had been expected.

De Ligt is in regularly at Carrington doing his rehab, and on a couple of occasions, he has felt close to a return, only to feel pain again in the back area. Every time that happens it delays his return and it is why Amorim, Fletcher and Carrick have all found it difficult to put a timescale on it, with United now cautioning against a timeframe and Carrick speaking more generically of late.

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It has been unfortunate timing. De Ligt was in the best form of his United career before his injury, as his status as an ever-present in the Premier League proved. While he has been forced to watch, he has seen Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez flourish as a partnership in the centre of defence.

Maguire has been outstanding under Carrick and is looking like he could earn himself a new contract. Martinez picked up a calf injury last week that ruled him out of the win at Everton, but he is expected to return to training before the return fixture against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

That might come too soon for the Argentine, but in 20-year-old Leny Yoro, who looks to be over his own patchy form under Amorim, United have an able deputy. De Ligt will be an afterthought against the opponents he last played against.

He is unlikely to be fit in time to face Newcastle either, at which point there will be only nine games left this season. His chances of making the World Cup with the Netherlands could also be hanging in the balance.

This has been De Ligt’s longest injury absence since missing 17 games with a shoulder injury in 2020, although he has had a stop-start time of it with minor injuries since the start of the 2022/23 season. There have been 11 separate injury absences since then, most for just a few games, until this back problem.

That has made him more aware of his own body and as he enters what should be the peak years of his career, he is determined to return when he feels he is right, rather than rushing back and risking a more severe setback and facing another spell out of action.

Within the next month or so, De Ligt hopes this issue will be in the rearview mirror, and he can focus on trying to win his place back in the side before the end of the season. That will be easier said than done, but his first challenge will be getting back onto the grass at Carrington.

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