Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has called on his players to fight for their Europa League final place in the final domestic games of the season, and is optimistic that Harry Maguire will be back.
United have two league games left of the campaign against Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, before the final in Gdansk against Villareal.
Solskjaer said he will have a difficult task selecting his final XI, but is hopeful he will have captain Maguire back after missing the last two league games through injury.
What was said?
Solskjaer said: “Hopefully we can have good news early, but I will give him as long as it takes because he has shown his importance. We’ve known it all along but maybe some people open their eyes more when he’s not playing.
“I certainly felt I became a very good player when I was injured. People suddenly realised what I could do as a sub or what I was as a player.
“Harry has been our leader, and our captain ever since he came in he’s been more or less ever present so of course he’s a big miss at the moment but, hopefully he’ll speed up the recovery and be ready for the final. I’ll give him as long as he needs until he says yes or no.
“He's making progress, but we've consciously taken the route of not testing him out too early, too quickly, because we don’t want to aggravate something.
“Harry is very – how do you say? - he wants this so much, so he doesn't want to take any risks either. When I spoke to him this morning, he was quite positive, which is good.
“Naturally, the day after it happened we were all down, but we saw early on or decided we have to focus, have to be positive and think that you're going to make it until you have to say 'no'. I've always been an optimist, so we're positive.”
What else was said?
While the fitness of Maguire is one dilemma for Solskjaer, another is who plays in goal with Dean Henderson and David de Gea both playing their part in getting the team to the final.
“I think there’s loads of difficult calls to make the whole squad has contributed so much,” Solskjaer said.
He added: “It’s always difficult and the human side you want everyone to get this experience but then you have to pick XI that’s just the nature of the job that you have to make some tough decisions and stand by them. A couple of games left for me to finalise what the XI in the final will be we’ll have to sit down.”
Further Reading
- Fernandes wants advice from Ferguson
- Kante cheats a lot! - Pogba
- Cavani hits out at Super League and VAR
