Brentford v Manchester United: Rangnick gives fitness update on Ronaldo, Pogba & Rashford

Ralf Rangnick has said he expects Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford to be available for Manchester United when they face Brentford on Wednesday, while he also gave an estimate of when Paul Pogba will return to the team.

Ronaldo and Rashford missed Saturday’s 2-2 against Villa through injury, with the former also sitting out the 1-0 FA Cup win over the Villans last week.

But ahead of the trip to the Brentford Community Stadium, Rangnick is hopeful he’ll be able to call upon the services of the experienced pair.

“Cristiano and Marcus were training yesterday and I assume they will also be training today,” he said in Tuesday’s media briefing.

“But in my press conference before the Villa game [on Saturday] I said that Cristiano would be available and in the end he wasn’t, the same with Marcus. We have to wait for the training session today, in an hour’s time. Right now I think they both could be available.”

When will Paul Pogba be available?

French international Pogba was also spotted in the club’s training images on Monday, leading to speculation he could be in line for a return to side soon.

The midfielder has been unavailable since early November due to a hamstring injury, and while Wednesday’s trip to Brentford will come too quickly for Pogba, Rangnick believes the FA Cup fourth-round fixture at the beginning of February could mark his return to the team.

“Paul Pogba had his first day of training with the whole group yesterday and in the first training session he showed what sort of an extraordinary player he could be,” explained the German.

“He will not be available for the two games this week, but hopefully after the international break, when we have the cup game against Middlesbrough and the away game at Burnley [in the league], I think he could be an option.”