Manchester United have made their decisions surrounding Amad and Matthijs de Ligt as Rúben Amorim prepares his squad to face Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League.
Manchester United are now preparing to face Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday afternoon — the biggest game of Rúben Amorim’s reign so far.
In their last outing in the competition, United pulled off a stunning comeback against Olympique Lyonnais, with quickfire goals from Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Harry Maguire helping them overturn the tie and seal a dramatic 7-6 aggregate victory at Old Trafford.
Domestically, however, United have struggled since, failing to win either of their last two Premier League matches. They fell to a 1-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers before salvaging a late 1-1 draw at Bournemouth, thanks to Rasmus Højlund’s stoppage-time equaliser.
Now, with full focus on the Europa League, United have a few days to prepare for the pivotal clash with Bilbao before flying out to Spain on Wednesday afternoon.
Amad and De Ligt decisions made vs Bilbao
According to multiple reports, United are expected to welcome back both Amad and Matthijs de Ligt to training this week, following their respective absences over the last few months. Amad has missed around ten weeks due to injury, while De Ligt’s last appearance was on 1 April.
However, according to the Manchester Evening News, United and Amorim are expected to reintroduce both players to first-team action this weekend against Brentford, indicating that neither player will be part of United’s travelling squad to face Bilbao on Thursday evening.
Amorim has been keen to stress that he does not want to rush any player back from training beyond their respective injury recovery schedules, as evident in the slow returns of Mainoo, Luke Shaw, and Mason Mount over the last month.
However, it’s hoped that Amorim will look to include a few young stars in his squad that travels to Spain on Wednesday afternoon, including a first European away trip for young centre-back Tyler Fredricson, who has been part of the club’s last two Premier League squads.
Chido Obi will not be part of the squad after being excluded from the Europa League squad list by the club. However, it is thought that players such as Jaydan Kamason, Godwill Kukonki, Jack Moorhouse, and Harry Amass may be included in the 23-man squad.
Young goalkeeper Elyh Harrison may also be included as a third-choice option in the net with Altay Bayındır still out of action.
Aside from Amad and De Ligt, Diogo Dalot, Joshua Zirkzee, Lisandro Martínez, Ayden Heaven, and Toby Collyer will likely not travel due to injury.
United expected squad vs Bilbao
Goalkeepers: André Onana, Tom Heaton, Elyh Harrison.
Defenders: Victor Lindelöf, Harry Maguire, Noussair Mazraoui, Luke Shaw, Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu, Harry Amass, Leny Yoro, Jonny Evans, Jaydan Kamason, Godwill Kukonki, Tyler Fredricson.
Midfielders: Christian Eriksen, Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes.
Forwards: Rasmus Højlund, Alejandro Garnacho, Jack Moorhouse.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 12:30 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.