Manchester United defender Harry Maguire was not in the matchday squad for the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham at the weekend.

With the England international’s future at Old Trafford up in the air, his absence caused a lot of speculation but manager Erik ten Hag explained before the game why the centre-back was not available:

“Harry picked up a small issue yesterday in the final training session, therefore he could not travel with us.”

It is expected that Maguire will be back in contention when the Red Devils take on Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford this Saturday.

Rasmus Hojlund (back) and Tom Heaton (calf) are the next two first-team stars who are the likeliest to make their return to full fitness.

Hojlund has not played since sealing his £72m move from Atalanta last month but it is hoped that the striker will be able to make his debut for United against Arsenal at the start of September. Heaton was set to be sidelined for a few weeks with his injury and he could be back for the same fixture.

Updates on 3 other United players

Tyrell Malacia, Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo are not expected to be ready for first-team action for quite some time.

It was already known that both Diallo and Mainoo would be out for the first part of the Premier League campaign due to knee injuries sustained in pre-season.

However, ten Hag has since confirmed that Malacia could also be unavailable for a similar length of time with his own knee problem. The left-back has not been 100% since the back end of last campaign and it appears the club’s medical department have decided that an extended break was needed for the issue to clear up. As all three players are long-term absentees, no estimates have been given on their return dates.