Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Paul Pogba will miss “a few matches” after it was confirmed that the midfielder would be out for four to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
The Frenchman hobbled out of Manchester United’s 3-0 win over FC Basel in the Champions League after just 16 minutes and left Old Trafford on crutches. A scan on Wednesday confirmed that Mourinho’s star midfielder will be out for a least a month, placing doubt over his chances of being available for the trip to Anfield on October 14.
Mourinho, speaking at a press conference, couldn’t provide an exact return date but noted that the 24-year-old would spend the next few matches watching from the sidelines.
“We have players and we have players waiting for an opp because we start the season really well with one match per week, no need for resting, changes, we were going with the same players but there are good players more than ready to play so honestly we miss Pogba, we need Pogba but we have good players,” he said.
“Herrera, Fellaini, Carrick are waiting for a real chance to start the matches and they are ready so this is also our way of think. We lost important players last season during crucial moments of the season and we were not crying or getting excuses about that.
“Squads are to try to cope with these kind of situations and we know that in a few situations, I don’t know how many, but we are going to play without Pogba for a few matches but we have other players.”
On a brighter note, however, the Portuguese confirmed that Luke Shaw – sidelined with ankle ligament damage since late April – was now fully fit and available for selection after making a full recovery. He has featured for the reserves as part of his rehabilitation process and Mourinho will now look to ease him back into the flow of first team football.
“Luke Shaw is not injured anymore so is a question of form, is a question of option but is not injured, he’s recovered,” he said.
The boss added that Marcos Rojo is two months away from making a recovery from his knee ligament injury sustained against Anderlecht in April, meaning the Argentine could return to action in November – a month earlier than initially anticipated.
“Marcos Rojo is still in the timings of such an important injury, everything went really well, but is not training in a normal session, just parts of it, so he probably has a couple of months.
