Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount will return to the Manchester United squad to face Chelsea at Old Trafford on Saturday after recovering from injury.
Both players were hurt in the 3-2 win over Burnley before the international break and missed last weekend’s defeat by Manchester City in the Etihad derby.
However, head coach Ruben Amorim confirmed that £62.5million summer signing Cunha and Mount have recovered for the 5.30pm kick-off against Enzo Maresca’s side and will be in his squad. Diogo Dalot remains sidelined along with Lisandro Martinez who continues to make progress in his recovery from a long-term knee injury.
‘Dalot is out, Mason is in the squad, Cunha is in the squad, Licha is still out,’ said Amorim who revealed that Tyrell Malacia is training with the Under-21s after failing to secure a move away from the club this summer.
Malacia was a member of Amorim’s ‘bomb squad’ along with Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Jadon Sancho. ‘He’s returning to the contact with team-mates and the ball in the Under-21s and then we will see,’ said the United boss.
Garnacho will return to Old Trafford for the first time since securing a £40m move to Chelsea at the end of August, but Amorim was reluctant to discuss the Argentina winger.
‘Garnacho is not our player,’ he said. ‘I’m focused on our players. I’m really happy with Mason and Cunha returning, that is my focus – the rest you have to talk with the Chelsea manager.’
On Martinez’s rehabilitation, Amorim added: ‘When you have that injury, you have time to recover a lot of things really fast, and then there is a boring part. It looks like you don’t go to the next step.
‘We miss Licha a lot. Especially in this moment, we miss the aggression. How aggressive he is in everything he does. I think we miss him.
‘But he’s always there, in every meeting and in every training. Sometimes he finishes the training and stays there to watch the training. I think we need Licha in this team.’
