Ruben Amorim isn’t anticipating any of Manchester United‘s injured players making a comeback for Sunday’s clash with Leeds United as he prepares to lean on his young talents once more. Harry Maguire has been absent since November 8 with a thigh complaint, whilst Matthijs de Ligt has been out for six weeks nursing a back issue.
Kobbie Mainoo has been missing for nearly a fortnight with a calf problem, and Mason Mount was hauled off at the interval during the Boxing Day encounter with Newcastle. Bruno Fernandes picked up a hamstring injury against Aston Villa and remains unavailable, while United are also without Noussair Mazraoui, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo, as Morocco, Ivory Coast and Cameroon have progressed to the knockout rounds of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Amorim confirmed no fresh injury worries had emerged within his squad, but ahead of Saturday’s final training session before the journey to Elland Road, he held little hope of any returns. “No issues, we’re going to see tomorrow, I don’t think anyone is going to recover,” he stated.
United are set to face a buoyant Leeds outfit, who have now gone six matches without defeat following their New Year’s Day draw at Anfield despite resting Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor.
Amorim acknowledged that the pace within Daniel Farke’s team could pose difficulties for his side. “They have a lot of pace and sometimes we struggle with pace,” he admitted.
“We prove that we can win any game in any situation in every context. We will try to do that. We know they change the system; the last game they rotated two players who are usually the starters. Good players, and a good manager.”
Amorim, who recently called upon youngsters Jack Fletcher and Bendito Mantato against Wolves, may once again turn to his youthful reserves despite the anticipated hostile reception at United.
“We look to everything, but they need to be prepared,” he stated. “You can see the squad, it’s impossible to stretch the players we don’t have. I try to put a team ready to cope with that and read the game to help them.
“They have to [be ready]. It’s a game in a hostile environment, but they need to experience that. It’s going to be hard for every player, even players with lots of experience.”
This will mark Amorim’s inaugural visit to Elland Road and his first taste of the rivalry. Despite having experienced similar high-stakes matches in Portugal as a Benfica player and Sporting coach, he anticipates this encounter to be unique.
He said: “I heard that it’s a big derby, great environment, big rivalry, but every game in the Premier League is so tough. It’s one more game, I know it means a lot to the fans but we need to go there and try to win.
“I never experienced this one. In Portugal it [Benfica vs Sporting] is a big rivalry, different environment, different culture. The noise is going to be big, it’s hard to compare different cultures, different derbies, let’s just focus on the derby, we will try to win.
“When you play for Manchester United you need to be ready for everything and you guys have the best league in the world. You see every week there are a lot of draws, you never control, never understand, it’s going to be tough but it’s tough every week in the Premier League.”