Man United reveal £55m blow ahead of Newcastle United visit as Erik Ten Hag fires superstar warning

Erik ten Hag talks with Casemiro during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.Erik ten Hag talks with Casemiro during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.
Erik ten Hag talks with Casemiro during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal at the weekend. | AFP via Getty Images
Newcastle United travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United on Wednesday evening in the Premier League.

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has revealed another injury headache ahead of the crunch European clash at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Ten Hag has already been without a whole host of first-teamers for the Red Devils’ Premier League run in, which stumbled along yesterday when Arsenal left Manchester with all three points after a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

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Erik ten Hag talks with Casemiro during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.Erik ten Hag talks with Casemiro during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.
Erik ten Hag talks with Casemiro during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal at the weekend. | AFP via Getty Images

Ten Hag was unable to call upon Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial, Viktor Lindelof or Tyrell Malacia this weekend, with little chance the majority of those will return against the Magpies.

And while there is some hope Martinez and Rashford could play some part against Eddie Howe’s side, Ten Hag confirmed, after the Gunners loss, talisman Fernandes would not be available for selection.

Ten Hag, in his post-match presser, reaffirmed his belief that should his players not prove their fitness, against Newcastle and Brighton on the last day, they will not be considered for the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

He said: "If you want to go into a hard game like the cup final you need the game practice and they know that.”

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Speaking about whether he thinks his side would have more points this season - they have three less than the Magpies after 36 games - he added: “I don't know where we should be when we had all the players on board, but definitely it is if there are players all on board, then you will get more points.

"Any manager can always do anything better, but now after two years here, I have only had one time where I have had a full group of players. You can't progress a team when in particular in certain key areas, it is like swimming with your hands behind your back, then you have to keep your head up and above the water level, this is what we are trying to do.

"Still we are in a cup final, this is good but if you want to progress a team we need fit players. You have seen with our opponent today that only one player for (Arsenal) was not available. We had so many."

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