The Manchester United captain twisted his ankle in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa last weekend and has missed the next two Premier League matches.
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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has vowed to give skipper Harry Maguire enough time to recover from the injury with only 10 days left for the Europa League final. The centre-back twisted his ankle in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa last weekend. As a result, he missed the next two Premier League matches against Leicester City and Liverpool. His absence was felt in those games as United lost both the matches, including a 2-4 thumping at the hands of their fierce rivals at Old Trafford.
With the Red Devils set to play Villarreal in the big final on 26th May, the manager informed that Maguire is optimistic about playing the match in Gdansk. “He’s making progress,” said Solskjaer. “When I spoke to him this morning he was quite positive but, naturally, the day after it happened we were all down. We saw early on or we decided that we have to focus, have to be positive, and think that you’re gonna make it until you have to say ‘no’.”
“I’ve always been an optimist, so we’re positive. But we’ve consciously taken the route of not testing him out too early, too quickly, because we don’t want to aggravate something. He wants this so much, so he doesn’t want to take any risks, either.”
There are still two more games left to play in the Premier League ahead of the European final. Solskjaer has assured that Maguire will be given as long as necessary to prove his fitness. “Hopefully we can have good news early, but I’ll give Harry as long as it takes because of course he has shown his importance,” he added. “But hopefully he’ll speed up the recovery and be ready for the final, but I’ll give him as long as he needs, until he says ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
With United losing both the matches in Maguire’s absence, Ole conceded that “he’s a big miss at the moment.” “We’ve known it [his importance] all along, of course. But maybe some people open their eyes when he’s not playing!” he explained.
“I certainly felt I became a very, very good player when I was injured. People suddenly realised what I could do as a sub, or as a player. Harry’s been our leader, he’s a captain. Ever since he’s come in he’s been more or less ever-present, so of course he’s a big miss at the moment.”
