Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was very coy about it yesterday, but now we know the real reason why striker Romelu Lukaku wasn’t going to get any rest, despite the Belgian’s extreme fatigue.
Fellow striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is hurt again, and thus, Mourinho’s options beyond Lukaku are extremely limited. The United boss revealed the injury news regarding the Swede after a very dull and extremely disappointing goalless draw at home versus Southampton. United dropped points for the third league game in a row, this time against a side that was just one point above the relegation zone.
It turns out Ibrahimovic will be gone for a month, after suffering a setback in the same knee that he damaged last April.
“It’s the same knee, it’s the knee with an incredible problem,” Mourinho said in a television postgame interview.
“A [36]-year-old man — a lion, like you say he’s a real lion — but not easy and now he’s had a little recurrence and one month out.”
Ibrahimovic suffered severe ligament damage in his knee during the Europa League quarterfinal against Anderlecht this past spring, but heroically returned to action well ahead of schedule last month.
In the match today, Lukaku suffered a head injury, which was so severe that he had to be stretchered off. Mourinho did not provide an an update on Lukaku, but when asked if all he has to work with now at striker is Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, he replied “yeah.” It’s safe to say Lukaku will miss his Everton return match on Monday.
The Portugese refused to be drawn into a discussion of whether or not he will dip into the transfer market for striker reinforcements this January.
“I don’t know,” he responded. “I really don’t know, but I’m happy with the players’ attitude, with the players’ desire, and I have no complaints about my players.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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