Man Utd boss Rúben Amorim: “Mason Mount will be out for several weeks”
“We are going to help him. It is very difficult for the player to be out for so long and he is doing his best.”
RUBEN AMORIM is set to teach Mason Mount his tactics even as the England star recovers from his latest injury.
Mount, 25, limped off in the 14th minute of Sunday's Manchester derby.
Amorim has now confirmed that the midfielder will be out for “several weeks” due to a muscle problem, but will still like the Portuguese's approach in the meantime.
The United chief said: “(It will) take several weeks. I don't know the exact date, but he will be out for a long time.”
Mount signed from Chelsea for £55 million in 2023 but played just 33 of a possible 78 games in a United shirt.
A calf injury kept him out for almost four months last season, while a hamstring problem earlier this season limited his progress.
Amorim appeared to have identified the Three Lions man as one of his starting number 10s in his 3-4-3 formation.
Asked whether United wanted to get to the bottom of Mount's injury problems with this latest dismissal, Amorim said: “That's not my department.
“What I can do is help Mase, teach him how to play our game when he is recovering.
“Try to use that time for him to think about other things and then I think the worst thing is that we don't have time to train like we should when you're recovering from a lot of injuries.
“We are always traveling, we have matches, so during training we don't have the whole team together and it is very difficult to recreate the match before they come to the match. You see it with Vic.
“Vic was recovering, they train very well, we push him, we do all the sprints he has to do before he comes to a competition, but the competition is a completely different world. So they need to have more time to train, so it's really difficult.
“We try to do that with rotation, but even with rotation it is very difficult to have the whole team. We're going to help him with Mason Mount.
“It is very difficult for the player to be out for so long and he is doing his best. Same as Anthony. If they really try, we will help them to the end.”
Brazilian Antony is the poster child for why things went wrong for Amorim's predecessor Erik ten Hag, after he joined the club for £85 million in 2022 and completely flopped.
But Mount's absence may require Amorim to rely more on Antony than previously expected.
'HE NEEDS MORE CONFIDENCE'
The 24-year-old started the 4-3 Carabao Cup defeat at Tottenham on Thursday evening.
Amorim added: “He needs more confidence.
“If you remember Antony who played at Ajax, he lacks a bit of confidence to play one-on-one, but he will improve.
“He works very hard and tries to play more inside than outside, especially in this game. He just has to do that. He has to work very hard and I will help him become a better player.”
HIS MARC LEFT
Marcus Rashford has been left out of United's last two matches, with Amorim insisting this was due to selection and not a disciplinary issue.
This is despite the fact that the England forward revealed in an interview on Tuesday that he was looking for “a new challenge”.
Asked whether the 27-year-old will be available at home for Bournemouth on Sunday, Amorim replied: “Yes, of course.”
The Portuguese boss then confirmed that Rashford had been left at Spurs purely because of selection choices, not because of discipline.
He added: “It's the same guys, the same. Completely the same.”
Amorim has achieved mixed results since taking over last month, winning four matches, losing three and drawing once.
However, the former Sporting Lisbon boss sees progress, especially when it comes to the way the team attacks.
Amorim, 39, said: “We improve near the opponent's box. We have some games where we are close to the box, but without any real threat. You could see different things (against Spurs).
“You could see that we can shoot, we are close to the goal and you can feel it, you really feel it. I think this is a good thing within our team.
“I feel like our team is quicker in pushing more, improving physically and understanding the game.
“You can see it in the controls of the game and you see it especially in this game, but also in the last game that we understand more about the position and the movement we have to do.
“There's a lot of things, but it's hard to think of the good things because we're out and let's focus on the next game.”
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