Anthony Martial.

Solskjaer gives injury update on Martial

Wednesday 07 April 2021 14:06

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted it’s unlikely that Anthony Martial will feature again for Manchester United this season, but the striker could be available for the European Championship finals.

The centre-forward picked up a knee injury during the recent international break, when playing for France against Kazakhstan, which ruled him out of Sunday’s Premier League victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

While Ole did indicate to club media at the weekend that the injury may rule Anthony out for the campaign, he gave a more detailed update on Wednesday, while speaking during his pre-match press conference.
“Anthony has started his recovery and, if we see him before the end of the season, I will be very surprised,” the boss admitted. 

“But, of course, he is determined to come back as quickly as he can. There are important games for us before the end of the season and then there are the Euros [with France, in the summer].

“He has already come in [to the training ground], he is bright around the place. [He’s] disappointed he can’t help us now, but, of course, he wants to work to get back as quickly as possible.”

Ole was speaking ahead of Thursday’s clash with Granada in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. After navigating our way past two top-quality opponents in the previous rounds, the Norwegian rejected any notion that his players would not be as focused going into this week’s first-leg encounter.

“Complacency? No,” he responded to a journalist’s question. “When you beat Real Sociedad and when you beat AC Milan, you get more of a taste for it. You know that you have jumped a couple of very high hurdles and opposition. 

“Granada, beating Napoli, going through the group, beating Molde last time, is the sign of team that has got quality and it’s going to be a difficult game. We have set our eyes on getting to the final and improving on last season.”

Whether Martial may be back by that final date on 26 May, if the Reds can go all the way to Gdansk, is difficult to tell.

Recommended: