Manchester United are looking ahead to their two-legged Europa League quarter-final clash against Athletic Club at the beginning of next month.
Sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table, Manchester United’s only hopes of securing European football next season relies on them winning the Europa League.
The Reds are currently the only unbeaten team in the competition and produced an incredible comeback win against Lyon in the quarter-finals.
Ruben Amorim will recognise that Athletic Club are a serious challenge for his side, who will need to be at their best to overcome their semi-final opposition.
With the first-leg of the game coming next Thursday, there have been some injury concerns from both camps as the match approaches.
Williams recovers from injury concern
It was revealed last week that Nico Williams had suffered an injury and would be unavailable for Athletic Club’s game against Real Madrid on the weekend.
That immediately put his place in doubt for the United game, however, the 22-year-old has seemed to make a quick recovery from his injury.
The Euro 2024 winner played 25 minutes off the bench in a 1-0 win over Las Palmas on Wednesday evening and the Spanish side have no weekend fixture ahead of the first-leg against United.
Williams will likely have enough time on the training pitch to be fit to start that encounter, which will be a major boost for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
He has been a crucial player for them this season, with 11 goals and seven assists in all competitions. He has missed just five games all season.
Will Amad be available for United vs Athletic Club?
Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, there were some question marks when Diogo Dalot was not spotted in the open training session this week. Amorim is expected to provide updates on his situation on Friday afternoon.
It has also been stated that Amad is closing in on a return from injury after being spotted on the grass at Carrington earlier this month. He has not yet competed in team training and Amorim doesn’t believe that he’ll be available before the start of next month.
“Amad is not ready [to return] this month, but we want him before the end of the season,” the 40-year-old head coach explained in mid-April.
It remains to be seen whether the Ivorian might be available to play the first-leg against Athletic Club, but it seems more likely that he could be involved for the return-leg at Old Trafford.
Read More: Matheus Cunha to Manchester United is ‘done’ with ‘agreement in place’ for £62.5m transfer
Seeing the 22-year-old return would be a huge boost for Amorim’s side, who have clearly been missing Amad’s quality on the right side of their attack.
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.