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Topics: Football, Manchester United, Manchester City, Erik Ten Hag, Donny van de Beek, Injury
Chris Byfield
Topics: Football, Manchester United, Manchester City, Erik Ten Hag, Donny van de Beek, Injury
Manchester United have suffered a huge injury blow ahead of the Manchester derby.
The Old Trafford club have lost just one Premier League game since being demolished 6-3 by rivals Manchester City back in October.
Erik ten Hag’s United are playing arguably the club’s best football since the 2013 departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. They have put together eight consecutive victories and suffered just one defeat in their last 18 games.
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The club have also conceded just six goals in the last 10 games, three of which came in an uncharacteristically poor 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
In turn, United will be going into the Manchester derby confident they can take all three points against Pep Guardiola’s side.
However, they will be without Donny van de Beek for the vital fixture.
Van de Beek has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
The 25-year-old, who signed from Ajax for an initial £35million in 2020, last played for the club in a win against Bournemouth on January 3.
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The midfielder tweeted: “I am really disappointed that the season is over for me.
“After successful surgery, it’s time to start my recovery process and will do everything to come back stronger for this club.
“Thank you all for the lovely messages, they mean a lot to me and my family.”
His manager added that while van de Beek’s season was over, he would return for pre-season.
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Ten Hag explained, via the BBC: "On the long term it is looking really good, he will be back for the start of pre-season. The rest of the season he is out.
"I think everyone's thoughts are with him. It is terrible when you are in a season and you get a bad tackle, a bad injury.
"It is always really disappointing and thoughts, feelings are with the player. You express that, our group did that really well, and we are now happy his knee in the long term is good.
"In the same moments, mixed feelings. Disappointment he is out of this season.
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"The players are feeling we are building something good and we want to be part of it and everyone wants to be part of it."