During United’s thrilling 2-1 win (after extra-time) at home to Anderlect on Thursday night, two important first team players were struck by injury, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo. Mourinho will be sweating on the fitness of two men who have undoubtedly been standout performers for United so far this season.
Rojo has been extremely reliable at the back in a side that hasn’t conceded more than one goal in a match since October. Whereas Ibrahimovic has been the go to man for United; the Swede is their top scorer in all competitions. Both went down with what looked like serious knee injuries, with Rojo twisting unnaturally in the first half, before Ibrahimovic landed awkwardly in the second.
Both players have been mainstays in United’s team this season and both will be big misses as the season draws to a close. The worry for United fans is that the injuries will be so bad that it could even rule them out of pre-season for the 17-18 campaign, or worse still, lead to the pair missing competitive games that season too.
Although, unconfirmed at this stage by the club, it is being reported by several news outlets and journalists that the news isn’t good. Respected Sunday Times journalist Duncan Castles has reported in the Daily Record that both players have ruptured their cruciate ligaments. Sources close to the player have reported that Rojo is due to undergo reconstructive surgery on a torn ACL, with medical scans taken on Friday revealing a tear. He is not expected to be back playing for United until September, meaning he’ll miss pre-season and the opening games of the next campaign.
Speaking as somebody who has gone through the same injury and subsequent recovery period there are some insights I can give on specific details associated with it. The surgery is necessary as the ligament won’t heal on its own so a new graft ligament (usually taken from the hamstring) will have to be put in its place. The Argentinian won’t be able to fully straighten his leg for up to a month after the operation, and subsequently his leg muscle will deteriorate. The following months will be spent building strength back in the leg, as well as teaching the new ligament to behave as a knee ligament should. Then he will progress slowly back into football specific exercises, and then back into full contact training.
The news on Ibrahimovic is even worse, and puts his future as a United player beyond this season in serious doubt. The Swede is reported to have ruptured two ligaments in his knee, which typically requires 9-12 months recovery time. Having only signed a one-year contract last summer, much has been made of whether the 35-year-old will stay on with United another year, but this injury could put an end to that idea.
Ibrahimovic is a man who has produced many outrageous quotes in his time, but one rings particularly true as United approach the run-in without him: “An injured Zlatan is a pretty serious thing for any team.”
The other news from the injury list is not good either with Chris Smalling and Phil Jones still out until mid-May meaning that the versatile Daley Blind will almost certainly see more action in the centre of defence now that Rojo is out. Juan Mata is still out for the remainder of the season with his pelvis issue as well as long-term absentee James Wilson. The only good news is that Wayne Rooney was able to return to the bench on Thursday night and should be available now for normal selection after getting over his knee problem.