Manchester United handed huge injury boost as star returns to training after 'devastating' injury

Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford both trained with the Manchester United squad before their upcoming clash with FCSB. United trained at Carrington on Wednesday morning ahead of their flight to Romania later in the day for their final match of the revamped Europa League group stage.

Ruben Amorim's side are fourth in the 36-team league phase and must finish in the top eight if they are to avoid a dreaded play-off spot and added fixtures to their calendar. United will guarantee their place in the next round if they win in Romania, while a draw would likely be enough as well, given the number of results required to dislodge them.

Shaw, 29, has been ravaged by injury this season and only made his first appearance of the campaign during Amorim's first match in charge against Ipswich Town back in November. The defender only made three substitute appearances before he suffered another setback that left him sidelined for the best part of two months. In a statement released after the injury, Shaw said he was ‘devastated’ by the small issue.

It might still be a few weeks before Shaw returns to action for United, with Amorim wary that he needs to be managed carefully after such a difficult campaign, but his return to full training is certainly a huge boost to the squad.

The other notable piece of early team news was the continued inclusion of Rashford, who has not played in any of the last 10 matches across all competitions. Speaking after the weekend win over Fulham, Amorim stated he would rather play 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital than any player who did not give it their all in training.

"It’s the same, it’s always the same reason. The reason is the training, the way I see what footballers should do in training, in life, it’s every day, every detail,” he said when asked of Rashford’s most recent absence. "So if things don’t change, I will not change. It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum, if you do the right things, we can use every player.

"And you can see it today on the bench, we miss a little bit of pace to go and change the game, move some pieces. But I prefer it like that. I will put Vital on before I put a player on that don’t give the maximum every day. So I will not change in that department."

United confirmed training squad members: Onana, Bayindir, Heaton, Graczyk; Yoro, Lindelof, De Ligt, Maguire, Martinez, Mazraoui, Malacia, Shaw, Dalot; Casemiro, Fernandes, Eriksen, Ugarte, Mainoo, Collyer; Rashford, Amad, Garnacho, Zirkzee, Hojlund.

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