Manchester United have handed a massive injury boost after Louis van Gaal confirmed star trio of Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling and Ander Herrera are in contention to face Norwich City on Saturday.
The England international striker last featured for Red Devils in the 1-1 draw against Leicester City, while his compatriot picked up an injury during the Red Devils’ 3-2 Champions League defeat to Wolfsburg.
The duo joined Herrera as the trio have been a part of the full training session this week and the Dutchman claims they are in contention to face the Canaries at Old Trafford this weekend.
Louis van Gaal tells #MUTV Rooney, Herrera and Smalling have trained for a full week ahead of tomorrow's game v Norwich.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 18, 2015
“There are more or less three players who are trained this week, for a full week, so that’s not bad. The players who have trained this week are Rooney, Herrera, Smalling and Young is also coming back I think, but we have to wait and see,” Van Gaal told MUTV.
“We have to decide if they can play or not because some players like Herrera have already been ‘out of the office’ for three or four weeks. Rooney has been out for more or less two weeks so it is possible that he will play but we have to wait and see.”
Jesse Lingard picked up a hamstring injury in United’s 2-1 defeat to AFC Bournemouth, while the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss decided against bringing on Ashley Young. He cited the former Aston Villa man was not fit enough to come on from the bench in the last defeat.
Van Gaal says Young is doubtful, while Lingard and Matteo Darmian are not fit to the upcoming league tie.
The boss adds that Young is progressing – "We have to wait and see" – but Lingard and Darmian remain unavailable through injury.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 18, 2015
“In the last match he had a slight problem, he was feeling something and we cannot take the risk I think. We have investigated that this week. He shall train today [Friday], so we shall have to wait and see if he is available. Lingard is out of the question, and Darmian is out of the question,” United manager stressed.
Lingard and Darmian join Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia in the treatment room as the latter two are set for a long spell on the sidelines. Bastian Schweinsteiger will face his second of the three match suspension, leaving Van Gaal with Michael Carrick and Morgan Schneiderlin, along with Herrera and Marouane Fellaini as the options in the midfield position.
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