Marcus Rashford appears to have lost his battle to be fit in time to face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday after he was not spotted with the rest of the Manchester United squad at the team hotel on Saturday.
The England international was rested from the start against Wolves in midweek, but with the FA Cup third round replay heading towards extra time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt compelled to introduce his in-form striker.
Although United eventually secured their place in the fourth round thanks to Juan Mata’s goal, the decision to bring Rashford on backfired with the 22-year-old sustaining a back injury within 15 minutes of him replacing Mason Greenwood.
Confirmed Man Utd squad members vs Liverpool
De Gea, Romero, Grant, Jones, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Williams, Bailly, Maguire, Dalot, Shaw, Lingard, Matic, Fred, Pereira, Gomes, Mata, Chong, James, Martial, Greenwood.
‘I can’t tell you now [whether he’ll be ready],’ Solskjaer said on Friday at his pre-match press conference with regards to Rashford’s chances of playing.
‘As I said with Harry [Maguire] a few weeks ago, of course we’re going to give him the absolute amount of time to find out.
‘We’ll do some more checks and treatment with him today. Yesterday was a recovery day. I’m not going to hold my breath.
‘I would probably think he wouldn’t be ready but let’s see. 48 hours, so let’s see.’
Luke Shaw, meanwhile, who hasn’t featured since the New Year’s Day defeat at Arsenal, is back in contention but he faces an uphill battle to dislodge Brandon Williams, the teenager who has excelled in recent weeks.
Harry Maguire will captain the side following the departure of Ashley Young to Inter on Friday.
MORE: Sporting manager hints at new delay for Manchester United in Bruno Fernandes transfer
MORE: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sent Sir Alex Ferguson to speak to Manchester United target Kalidou Koulibaly
