Injury update on De Gea, Rojo and Valencia
Louis van Gaal has confirmed that David De Gea will miss Manchester United’s Europa League clash with FC Midtjylland on Thursday, but Marcos Rojo will return to the bench.
De Gea suffered an injury during the warm-up for last Thursday’s Round of 32 first leg against the Danish champions, which forced Sergio Romero to step up with just minutes to go until kick-off. Although the Spaniard's problem is not thought to be serious, he has been ruled out for now.
Asked if David will feature at Old Trafford during Wednesday's pre-match press conference at Old Trafford, van Gaal said: "I was hoping for that but he shall not be involved, that is already certain."
On a more positive note, van Gaal revealed Rojo will return to the matchday squad on Thursday - although the Argentinian defender can only play for 20 minutes as a substitute if needed.
Antonio Valencia has also been training individually as part of his recovery programme but the Ecuador international is not yet available for selection, the manager explained on Wednesday.
"Valencia didn’t train with our first squad, only individually as part of his own programme," van Gaal told
MUTV. "Rojo has only trained with the second team yesterday and today with the first squad so he’s on the bench but is only good for 20 minutes or something like that."
Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Adnan Januzaj (cup tied) and Will Keane are all set to miss out. Chris Smalling did not train with the group on Wednesday and it remains unclear whether he will feature.
Van Gaal also confirmed to MUTV that young striker Marcus Rashford is in his thoughts with Rooney and Keane both sidelined. "He is the option at this moment for this position," he added.
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