Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed Eric Bailly’s knee injury is worse than first feared and the centre-back will be sidelined for up to five months.
Bailly was stretchered off during United’s pre-season win over Tottenham in Shanghai at the end of last week and left the stadium on crutches before flying home for further checks.
Solskjaer revealed after the match the Ivory Coast international, who missed this summer’s Africa Cup of Nations through injury, twisted his knee in United’s 2-1 victory against Tottenham.
However, the United manager has now revealed Bailly has undergone surgery and may not even feature again this year.
“Manchester United defender Eric Bailly is set for a spell on the sidelines after undergoing an operation on Tuesday morning,” a statement read on the club’s official website.
“The Ivory Coast international injured his knee in the International Champions Cup victory over Tottenham and missed the subsequent flight to Oslo for the friendly against Kristiansund.
“Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed at his post-match press conference, following the 1-0 victory in his homeland, that the central defender is unlikely to return until Christmas time.”
Bailly has endured an injury-hit career since moving to United in the summer of 2016 and there were suggestions he could be sold this summer.
United have six centre-backs now Axel Tuanzebe has returned from a loan spell with Aston Villa and the Red Devils are locked in talks to sign Leicester centre-back Harry Maguire.
Maguire’s arrival would almost certainly force United to sell at least one centre-back before the window shuts and Bailly would have been a candidate to leave prior to injury.
Bailly has now sustained 11 separate injuries in his three years at United and has likely blown his last chance to salvage a career at Old Trafford.
The 25-year-old’s inability to stay fit for prolonged periods has caused immense frustration at the club, particularly as he has arguably shown the best form of any of United’s current centre-backs.
In fact, United have a far superior win ratio in the Premier League since August 2016 when Bailly has started (60.5%) compared to when he has not featured from the off (50.7%). The problem is, however, Bailly has only started 43 of a possible 114 league matches for United.
