Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial will both miss Manchester United’s match with Leicester.
The Norwegian has been sweating over the fitness of five players ahead of the Old Trafford clash, with Pogba (ankle/foot), Martial (thigh), Jesse Lingard (illness), Luke Shaw (thigh) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (back) all struggling during the international break.
Lingard and Wan-Bissaka were forced to withdraw from Gareth Southgate’s squad for England’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo, but there is a chance the pair could feature this weekend.
While Pogba and Martial have both been ruled out of the game, Solskjaer is hopeful the French duo can return in time for the side’s trip to West Ham on September 22. United left-back Shaw will also be unavailable on Saturday as he steps up his recovery from a thigh injury.
Asked about Pogba’s fitness, Solskjaer replied: ‘Pogba won’t be fit, no, unless he’s had a miraculous recovery overnight from yesterday to today or tonight to tomorrow. He’s not been ready to do 100 per cent training, no.’
‘We hope more can be ready for West Ham next week and Paul and Anthony are in that category, I think they’ll be ready for then and can’t say more than that really.’
Solskjaer believes there is a chance Wan-Bissaka and Lingard could feature versus Brendan Rodgers’ side on Saturday. ‘The treatment room’s been busy and it still is,’ Solskjaer added. ‘So we don’t really know who’s going to be available. There’s maybe Aaron, maybe Jesse and I think maybe that’s it from the ones that pulled out [from national squads], but I can’t promise those two will be available either. Leicester is always a tough game, as a team, a club wanting to push into the top four, they’ve got good players, a good manager, a proven top manager. Brendan’s teams always play with football and we’ve got to play well to get the three points.’
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