Ruben Amorim says Marcus Rashford will be available for Manchester United's clash with Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday, but Mason Mount faces another long-term layoff after his latest injury.
Rashford was absent for the second game in a row as United were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at Tottenham on Thursday evening after claiming he wants a new challenge in his career.
Amorim says he left Rashford out of the Manchester derby and Spurs match due to his performances in training, but has kept the door open for the 27-year-old's return.
Whether that will happen at Old Trafford on Sunday remains to be seen, but when asked if Rashford is available, the United boss replied: 'Yes of course'. Asked if it was a disciplinary issue, he added: “No, no, it's the same guys. It will be the same.'
Meanwhile, Mount faces another spell on the sidelines after leaving with a muscle injury less than 15 minutes into United's win over Manchester City at the Etihad last weekend.
Mount has played in just 33 of a possible 77 games since joining United from Chelsea for £60m in the summer of 2023 and, according to Amorim, will not return for 'a number of weeks' after seeing a specialist on Wednesday.
“I don't know the exact date, but it will be a long time,” he added. 'That's it, it's part of football and you move on.'
The new head coach will look to use Mount's time off to help him adapt to the new system he wants at United. Victor Lindelof is in the same boat after limping out of the 4-3 defeat at Spurs in what was only his fourth start in an injury-hit season.
“What I can do is help Mase and teach him how to play our game,” Amorim said. “If he's recovering, try to use that time to think about other things.”
'The worst part is that we don't have time to train as you should when you are recovering from many injuries. We are always traveling, we have matches and training, we don't have the whole team together and it is very difficult to recreate the game before they come to the game.
“You can see it with Vic. Vic was recovering, he trained really well, we pushed him, we did all the sprints he had to do before he came to the game, but the game is a completely different world.
'They need to get more time to train, so it's very difficult. We try to do that with rotation, but even with rotation it is very difficult to have the entire roster.
'We are 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. If they try very hard, we will help them to the end.'
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