The latest Manchester United injury news ahead of their first match of the 2026/27 Premier League season against Hull City at the MKM Stadium on Saturday lunchtime
Michael Carrick has offered an injury update on several Manchester United players before their opening match of the Premier League season against Hull City.
United visit the MKM Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, a week on from their final pre-season friendly against Milan in Wroclaw, Poland. Multiple squad members missed that 4-2 defeat to the Serie A side, including Benjamin Sesko, Karl Darlow, Mason Mount, Matthijs de Ligt and Tom Heaton.
Manuel Ugarte also remains a long-term absentee after sustaining a knee ligament injury while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup this summer. However, there is more positive news elsewhere.
Benjamin Sesko
United have been without Sesko during the entirety of their pre-season preparations because of a shin injury that cut short his debut season with the club in early May. The striker has continued to recover from that issue this summer, which he played through last season before aggravating it during their win over Liverpool at Old Trafford, and has returned to full training at Carrington this week.
Carrick said during his press conference on Thursday: “Ben [Sesko] is back training, so that’s another positive. Looking forward to having him back around the group and getting him some minutes as well.”
Karl Darlow
Summer signing Darlow has yet to make his United debut as the goalkeeper continues to recover from having surgery at the end of last season. The former Leeds United goalkeeper played for them through to the expiry of his contract and also represented Wales in early June before being sidelined over the summer.
Dermot Mee has deputised for Senne Lammens in his absence as of late, with Radek Vitek signing for Middlesbrough and Tom Heaton also being sidelined. Carrick, however, now has a more positive update, saying: “Karl has trained this week. He’s back training, so he’s in good shape.
Manuel Ugarte
Knee ligament surgery for an injury sustained while representing Uruguay at this summer’s World Cup leaves Ugarte as United’s sole long-term absentee to start this season. The club confirmed his operation was successful, adding that he “will now begin the rehabilitation stage of his recovery and will be carefully managed by the club’s medical and performance staff”.
Ugarte said in the aftermath: “I’m incredibly grateful to Uruguay and Man Utd for being there for me from the moment it happened. A huge thank you as well to my family, my friends, and everyone who has sent me messages of support during this time. I’ll be back stronger.”
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Mason Mount
A foot injury sustained during the 1-1 draw against Paris Saint-Germain has sidelined Mount since early this month. The midfielder had to limp off 20 minutes into that friendly and was replaced by Tyler Fletcher in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Mount has missed the two matches since, with the latter starting alongside Andrey Santos in midfield against Leeds. Youri Tielemans then came in to partner with his fellow summer signing last weekend.
Carrick, however, suggested Mount could be back this weekend, saying: “We are managing Mason [Mount] a little bit, but he’s very close, so it’s touch-and-go for the weekend, really, if not going into next week.”
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Matthijs de Ligt
In defence, De Ligt is training again after back surgery earlier this year, having missed the final six months of last season. However, his first appearance since late November will not come on the opening day of this season.
Clarifying the situation, Carrick has said: “Matt [De Ligt] has obviously been out for a long period of time, but he’s training and great to have him back. Well, he won’t be involved, but he’s in good shape and moving in a good direction, so that’s really a good bonus for us, really, at this stage, to have him back.”
Tom Heaton
This weekend is when Tom Heaton is due to find out the extent of the innocuous-looking injury sustained against PSG a fortnight ago. Despite there being no great concern at the time when Mee replaced the 40-year-old, the setback has proved more serious than first suspected.
Heaton is set to face at least a few weeks on the sidelines, which makes Darlow’s return to training even more timely. Carrick sounded optimistic about the summer signing being back on the bench against Hull this weekend and would, presumably, replace Mee as a substitute if now fit enough to do so.
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