Man Utd rocked after Leny Yoro, Rasmus Hojlund injury timelines revealed; duo add to worries

Manchester United have suffered a double injury blow ahead of the start of the new season, with summer signing Leny Yoro and striker Rasmus Hojlund set for spells on the sidelines.

Both players were forced off in the first half of Saturday’s pre-season defeat to Arsenal at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

And it was confirmed before United’s midweek 3-2 win over Real Betis in San Diego that both players face spells out, with Yoro’s injury more significant.

The £52m centre-back has been ruled out for three months and Hojlund will miss six weeks. Yoro was filmed at United’s training base at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), on Tuesday wearing a protective boot and using crutches.

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That sparked fears of a major injury and those concerns have now been realised, with 18-year-old talent set to be out until the end of October.

That would mean he misses nine Premier League games, including matches against Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa, and the start of United’s Europa League and Carabao Cup campaigns.

Yoro will have further tests when he returns to the UK to determine the true extent of the problem, although he will stay with the United party for the remainder of their US trip, which concludes against Liverpool in Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday.

Hojlund scored United’s opener at the weekend but he succumbed to a hamstring issue and will be sidelined until after the September international break, meaning he will miss the Liverpool game at Old Trafford on September 1.

United facing transfer decisions

Quite what that means for United in the transfer market remains to be seen, with the Red Devils still known to be chasing another centre-back to bolster Erik ten Hag’s rearguard.

Jarred Branthwaite from Everton or Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich remain top targets, although it appears that a deal for the latter is much more likely at this stage.

As for the friendly win over Betis, Marcus Rashford, Amad Diallo, Casemiro were all on target in the win, although both Rashford and winger Antony picked up knocks in the game.

However, veteran goalkeeper Tom Heaton played down the issues to the duo when speaking after the Betis troump.

He said: “I am pretty sure the two tonight [Marcus Rashford and Anthony] are precautionary.

“We are playing three games in a week, and don’t want to take any chances. With the other two [Leny Yoro and Rasmus Hojlund], hopefully not too long. Both have played really well so far but we have strength in depth. I am sure they won’t be out for too long.

“To some extent you roll with it and we will see when they are back.

“It is all coming together. The lads have started pre-season really well, the drills have been good.

“Off the back of the FA Cup win there is a lot of confidence and belief. We have taken it into pre-season, we need to keep pushing the boundaries and keep driving standards higher and higher.”

United are back in action on Sunday when they take on Liverpool in pre-season action again.

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