Manchester United football director John Murtough has revealed the club are investigating the injury crisis that has gripped their season so far.
The Red Devils have lost six of their 11 matches already this term, including both of their Champions League group stage fixtures.
After a promising debut season with Erik ten Hag in the dugout, United have failed to kick on, though this could be attributed to their extraordinarily long list of injuries.
There are currently six players – Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tyrell Malacia, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo – out for the long-term, while senior defender Raphael Varane and summer signing Mason Mount have spent extended periods of time on the treatment table already.
Sergio Reguilon, who was essentially signed on loan from Tottenham Hotspur as emergency left-back cover for Shaw and Malacia, has also spent the last few weeks injured too.
The Daily Mail reported on Friday that United were launching an investigation into their injury woes, and this was confirmed by Murtough at a fans’ forum.
“There are some strong mitigations for the mixed results so far, including 16 first-team players being injured or unavailable for periods since the start of the season,” he said.
“That’s two-thirds of the squad and means that Erik has not been able to pick his strongest XI once this season. Thankfully, we’ve started to see some of the injured players returning and that should make a difference, including our new signings Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount who are still bedding into the team.
“We’re also looking at why we’ve had so many injuries to see if there’s any patterns to improve prevention in future. Some of them have been impact injuries such as Kobbie’s and Amad’s, which are unpredictable. Others have been muscular and could reflect the sheer volume of games played over the past year, including last year’s World Cup.”
United managed to seal a much-needed win heading into the October international break, with Scott McTominay scoring a stoppage-time brace to earn a dramatic 2-1 victory at home to Brentford.
They return to action next Saturday evening with a trip to relegation-battling Sheffield United.