Erik ten Hag has already revealed an expectation that Luke Shaw, Christian Eriksen and Harry Maguire could be available for the weekend’s Premier League clash with Tottenham.
That one comes too soon for Casemiro, Martinez and Mount, although it seems they aren’t far behind. The Manchester Evening News describes United as “optimistic” that the trio will be available to play in the FA Cup fourth round against either Newport County or Eastleigh, the latter among the lowest ranked teams left in the competition, scheduled for the weekend of 27/28 January.
All three players in question have returned to some form of training.
After facing Spurs on Sunday, MUFC have a two-week gap before that cup tie as a result of English football’s winter break kicking in now that the traditional but frantic festive period is out of the way.
Casemiro has been out of action with a hamstring injury that he picked up in November immediately after recovering from an ankle problem suffered while in action for Brazil the previous month.
Having got over his ankle issue, Casemiro started as United captain in the Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle on 1 November. Due to that earlier problem, he hasn’t appeared in the Premier League since being hooked at half-time of the comeback win over Brentford on 7 October.
Lisandro Martinez’s injury problems started towards the end of last season when he fractured his foot during a Europa League clash with Sevilla. He was back on the pitch in time for the start of the new campaign in August but ended up aggravating the issue, initially playing on through several games.
The Argentine endured he setback at the start of September when Arsenal won at Old Trafford, but played further games against Brighton and Bayern Munich that month before being ruled out.
Since completing a £60m summer transfer from Chelsea, Mason Mount’s United career is yet to get off the ground because of fitness troubles. His latest problem was with a calf muscle and great caution has been taken after stepping up his training workload last month.
