Ruben Amorim still doesn’t know if Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui will be available for Manchester United’s clash with Bournemouth on Monday as talks continue over their release for the Africa Cup of Nations.
FIFA have allowed clubs to keep hold of players until a week before their countries’ first games in the tournament, which begins on Sunday, December 21.
Technically, Mbeumo and Diallo can stay in Manchester until December 17 because Cameroon and Ivory Coast don’t play until Christmas Eve. Hosts Morocco, on the other hand, play in the opening game on December 21, so Mazraoui is scheduled to report on Sunday and miss the Bournemouth game 24 hours later.
However, United negotiated with Cameroon to delay goalkeeper Andre Onana’s departure two years ago so he only missed one game for his club, and Amorim revealed that talks with all three football federations are continuing.
‘We are still in conversation with the national teams,’ said the United boss. ‘The game is just Monday. They are here, they are training and we are trying to prepare all the scenarios to prepare for the game.
‘It’s frustrating but at the same time nobody knows who is going to play. So it’s a good thing, I think. We have players to cope with everything and that is something with a long week you can see a lot of things to prepare the game and any situation.
‘I don’t know if it’s going to be the same situation (with each player). It depends on the games. Every national team has their ideas about when they want the players. I expect to have a decision today or maybe tomorrow. We are waiting until the last moment to have all the players available to choose the best team to start the game.’
Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt remain absent for the visit of Bournemouth, but striker Benjamin Sesko could feature for the first time since sustaining a knee injury at Tottenham five weeks ago.
‘Maguire is out, De Ligt is out,’ Amorim said. ‘Ben we have to see.
‘We have to see if he’s available. He had some (food) poisoning but we’ll see. Let’s wait. We have two training (sessions) still. Benjamin we will assess.
‘(De Ligt) has something in his back. I don’t know for sure. Sometimes you see it’s not a big injury because he finished the game quite well against Crystal Palace, but he has some pain.
‘So, you sometimes think that it’s going to solve during this week but sometimes he feels a little bit of pain and we have to be careful with that.’
