Michael Carrick understands fan frustrations amid Manchester United sack threat
Manchester United head into the international break with fresh injury concerns, and uncertainty over their manager.
A 4-4 home draw to Aston Villa leaves Michael Carrick on the brink of the sack with the club languishing in the Premier League relegation zone.
Regarding the players, Harry Maguire lasted just 45 minutes on Sunday after succumbing to a suspected back problem to add to club woes.
Here is all the latest Manchester United injury news and potential return dates...
Harry Maguire
Harry Maguire shook off a knock to start against Aston Villa, but had to be withdrawn at half-time with a back problem.
The centre-back appeared to be limping after being substituted late in Tuesday's 3-2 Champions League victory over Roma, but started at Old Trafford five days later.
Speaking after the game, Carrick told MUTV: "Harry had a bad back. A really bad back spasm that he had with maybe 10-15 minutes to go in the first half.
"I don't know how bad it is but, going into the internationals, there should be plenty of time for him to recover."
Potential return date: Sunday, November 22 vs Liverpool (A)
Carlos Baleba
The summer signing had to wait a while for his debut, having arrived carrying an injury, but did impress when he finally got to step onto the pithc.
However, Baleba will now be sidelined for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury picked up against Roma last week.
Asked for an update on Friday, Carrick said: “Carlos we don’t know exactly [the severity], but it’ll be a number of weeks yet.
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“Definitely not this week and not over the international break, it will be a little bit longer yet.”
Potential return date: December 2026
Marcus Rashford
Marcus Rashford continues to miss out with a persistent hip injury, which has kept him out since the 2-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid last month.
It had been hoped that Rashford could return to face Villa, but will now spend the international break building up his fitness.
Speaking recently about Rashford’s injury, Carrick said: “Marcus, we will just have to see, day by day, how he keeps improving.”
Potential return date: Sunday, November 22 vs Liverpool (A)
Sidelined: Luke Shaw
Luke Shaw
Luke Shaw is still sidelined with the muscular problem that he picked up in the 1-1 draw with Tottenham during October.
The left-back has not yet returned to first-team training.
Asked for an update last week, Carrick said: “Luke definitely won’t be around this week and fit at that point.”
Potential return date: Sunday, November 22 vs Liverpool (A)
Benjamin Sesko
Benjamin Sesko has been ruled out until 2027 with his ongoing shin injury issues.
The Slovenian saw his debut season cut short by the injury, and did manage to make a few appearances this term but will be sidelined for the remainder of the year.
“We're not exactly sure yet how long [he will be out for], but it's going to be a significant amount of time, unfortunately,” Michael Carrick said earlier in November.
“So I feel for Ben, he had the issue at the end of last season that we looked after and tried to give him as much time to recover and then unfortunately he's had the issue coming into this season.
“So, we've got to do what's best for Ben and he's going to have to have some time on the sidelines, unfortunately.
Potential return date: January
Manuel Ugarte
Uruguay international Ugarte is set to be out for much of this season with a torn ACL that he sustained at the World Cup.
Potential return date: Summer 2027