7 members of the first-team squad were missing as Man United trained on Thursday morning, according to BBC journalist Simon Jones.

Some were expecting Noussair Mazraoui to feature, after recovering from injury, but Stones says the Moroccan was not present, along with Lisandro Martinez and Ayden Heaven.

Martinez is nearing his return to full training after spending eight months on the sidelines with an ACL injury, but it looks like he isn’t quite ready to make his comeback yet.

Heaven, meanwhile, picked up a knock whilst playing for England’s Under 20s against Switzerland last weekend. He underwent treatment in the 1st minute of the 1-0 defeat and was subsequently taken off.

4 other Man United players have been given “time off”

Captain Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Casemiro and Matheus Cunha were also not present for the training session at Carrington.

Stones claims that all four were given “extra time off” by head coach Ruben Amorim, so they should all be available to face Liverpool on Sunday evening.

After playing in Tokyo on Tuesday and going on long-distance flights, the absence of Casemiro and Cunha (in particular) is very understandable. The same explanation can be applied to Amad, who started Ivory Coast’s 3-0 win over Kenya the same day.

Fernandes was involved in Portugal’s 2-2 draw against Hungary but he doesn’t have the same excuse of long travel times. The fact that he was substituted in the World Cup qualifier may suggest that he might have picked up an issue, but we shall have to wait and see if that is in fact the case.

Liverpool v Man United team news

This weekend’s opponents have their own fitness problems. Both Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch are carrying muscular injuries, while Wataru Endo is unavailable due to a knock.

First-choice keeper Alisson Becker (groin) and summer signing  Giovanni Leoni (ACL) have already been ruled out of contention.

Read more about the Manchester United First Team Squad for 2025/26 here