Manchester United bought a glass man for 60 million, and Ten Hag officially announced that Mason Mount had a recurrence of his old injury!
At the moment, Manchester United's squad is basically full, and the remaining injuries are also returning. At home to West Ham United on Sunday, midfielder Amrabat and centre-back Victor Lindelof could both return, giving Ten Hag more options.
Amrabat last featured for Manchester United in a 0-0 draw with Liverpool on 17 December, after which he was sidelined through injury and Africa Cup of Nations, while Victor Lindelof underwent groin surgery on 6 December before recovering from injury. Now, Morocco are out early, Amrabat has returned to Manchester, and Lindelof has recovered from injury and is already training out.
"Sofyan (Amrabat) will resume training from Saturday. Ten Hag said: 'Victor [Lindelof] is almost ready to play, he was training with the squad yesterday and we have to see what happens to him before we decide when he will return. 」
However, United still have four major injuries, Anthony Martial will be out until April, Malacia with a knee injury and Mason Mount with a calf strain will still be exempt, and Wan-Bissaka, who has missed two games due to a leg injury, is unlikely to return. Ten Hag added: 'Tyrell [Malacia] and Mason [Mount], I don't expect them to come back. Aaron (Aaron Wan-Bissaka) is also on his way back but won't be in time for Sunday. I'm not sure yet, he's having a problem with his leg. 」
However, Ten Hag confirmed that neither Wolves' early substitutions of Lisandro Martinez nor Casemiro have recurred from old injuries, but are just a precautionary substitution. It was Lima's first Premier League start in five months, with his left foot in need of ice after being substituted in the 86th minute, while Casemiro, who made his first league start since 7 October, also left in the second half. Ten Hag said it was a precautionary measure, especially for 'Fat Tiger', who had already been yellowed and tripped Neto in the 71st minute to send a penalty.
"Letting Lima go down is a precautionary measure. I also had to replace Rasmus [Hojlund] because he was exhausted. Then, the defence needed to improve their headers, so I put Harry Maguire on for a header and replaced Rasmus with Omari [Forson]. Of course, Lima still has a long way to go before it can return to 100% form. In addition, Casemiro also needs to catch up, the more games he plays, the better he will perform, and he needs game time to practice. And, if he had committed another foul, he could have been sent off and we couldn't take any chances. 」
Mason Mount, who signed Manchester United from Chelsea for £60 million in the summer window, has barely played a few games and has been recovering from injury. Ten Hag admits the England international has struggled with injuries since August. Mason Mount last played in the Premier League on 11 November against Luton Town, and a calf injury has kept him back in action.
The stats show that the 25-year-old has made just 12 appearances for United since joining, with just one assist. At the same time, he has already been seriously injured twice. A hamstring injury in the second round of the Premier League against Tottenham sidelined him for six games, while Mount resumed training outdoors in December after a training injury at the end of November, Ten Hag had hoped he would return in January, but has yet to do so.
Mason Mount, who had returned to the outdoors and is now back indoors, is likely to miss most of the month's games. It continued his final days at Chelsea, when he failed to start the final 18 games of the season due to injury. Last year he started just nine games and played the full 90 minutes only once.
Ten Hag said: 'Mason has been struggling since the second game of the season, he came back for a while and then he got injured again, so of course it's not good. It frustrated him and I genuinely sympathize with him. I will support him because we have high expectations from each other. I'm sure he's a very good player for us, but first and foremost, the most important thing now is that it's very safe to get him back to fitness. It's about being safe, taking it one step at a time, not rushing it, and then hopefully by the end of the season he's going to be fit and trying to fit in, or at least play a part in the team. Of course, I'm looking forward to his return. 」