Manchester United board investigating key reason why Erik ten Hag has been unable to play his strongest XI

Manchester United’s football director John Murtough has confirmed the club are investigating the injury crisis affecting the club.

“There are some strong mitigations for the mixed results so far, including 16 first-team players being injured or unavailable for periods since the start of the season,” Murtough said.

“That’s two-thirds of the squad and means that Erik has not been able to pick his strongest XI once this season. Thankfully, we’ve started to see some of the injured players returning and that should make a difference, including our new signings Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount who are still bedding into the team.

“We’re also looking at why we’ve had so many injuries to see if there’s any patterns to improve prevention in future.

“Some of them have been impact injuries such as Kobbie’s and Amad’s, which are unpredictable. Others have been muscular and could reflect the sheer volume of games played over the past year, including last year’s World Cup.”