Manchester United achieved a very dominating 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Boxing Day, but it came with a tremendous price. Stellar young midfielder Scott McTominay suffered ligament damage in his knee and required crutches in order to leave Old Trafford this evening.
It remains to be seen how serious the injury is and how long he’ll be sidelined, but knee ligament damage is obviously severe by definition. The good news is that he was able to play through the pain until halftime, when he got subbed off by Paul Pogba.
“He’s done his ligament in the knee,” said United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the match.
“I don’t know how bad. Let’s see. The boy has got the biggest heart, you see the attitude of the kid [to play on]. I’m not sure if he’s going to be ready for Saturday [against Burnley] but we’ve seen him heal quickly before.”
Solskjaer is absolutely right- McTominay has healed quickly before. Just last month he injured his ankle in United’s win over Brighton & Hove Albion, and had to then withdraw from international duty with Scotland. However, he recovered quickly, and was not gone very long. Of course, it is festive period fixture congestion, and that means everybody needs all hands on deck. It’s fortunate for United that Pogba is coming back closer to full strength now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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