Five injured Man Utd players not spotted in training ahead of Man City Premier League clash

The latest Manchester United training footage has raised concerns about the fitness of five first-team players heading into Sunday’s Manchester derby.

The Red Devils travel to Manchester City for a 2pm kick-off ahead of what is set to be an action-packed period for Erik ten Hag’s side.

The busy fixture schedule means it’s vital United keep their players as fresh as possible over the next six weeks, and why the latest training updates are a slight concern for supporters.

United released a video and galleries from sessions across Tuesday and Wednesday, which were made up of senior players who weren’t on international duty, first-team players who returned early or didn’t feature heavily for their countries, and youth-team players.

But Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Donny van de Beek, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were not spotted in the footage, despite the quartet all remaining at United over the recent international break.

Wan-Bissaka missed United’s Europa League trip to Moldova prior to the pause in club football, and is suspected to have picked up a knock.

There’s similar uncertainty surrounding Van de Beek, who hasn’t played for United since 22 August, while Rashford sustained an injury earlier this month which forced him to miss the latest England matches.

As for Martial, he has played just 45 minutes under Ten Hag this season and has been struggling with an Achilles issue.

Their expected absence from training does not bode well ahead of the derby, while Martin Dubravka also wasn’t seen training with the goalkeepers.

The 33-year-old was called up by Slovakia over the international break but returned to Carrington early in order to receive treatment on a knock.

Harry Maguire is another injury concern ahead of the derby. He was filmed limping after England’s 3-3 draw with Germany on Monday and there have been reports he may be out for two weeks.

Who was training?

While there were five notable absentees from United’s training footage across Tuesday and Wednesday, Diogo Dalot, Tyrell Malacia and Antony were included in the latest video, with the trio having limited game-time for their countries in the last week.

Scott McTominay was suspended for Scotland’s draw with Ukraine on Tuesday and last played on Saturday, leading to his early return, while Raphael Varane and Christian Eriksen were back after France and Denmark played each other in their final matches of the break on Sunday.

There were eight other international call-ups, including the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are expected to return to full training later this week.

On their website United explained: “Several players who played for their countries this week trained indoors on Wednesday.”

Also seen training with the first team were youngsters Radek Vitek, Bjorn Hardley, Rhys Bennett, Marc Juardo, Sam Murray, Zidane Iqbal, Alejandro Garnacho, Shola Shoretire and Charlie McNeill.

The video footage didn’t show Ten Hag, but coaches Steve McClaren, Mitchell van der Gaag and Benni McCarthy were visible.

Spotted in training: David de Gea, Tom Heaton, Nathan Bishop, Radek Vitek, Raphael Varane, Bjorn Hardley, Rhys Bennett, Diogo Dalot, Marc Jurado, Tyrell Malacia, Sam Murray, Scott McTominay, Christian Eriksen, Zidane Iqbal, Antony, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho, Shola Shoretire, Charlie McNeill.

Not spotted in training: Martin Dubravka, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Fred, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Donny van de Beek, Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial