Manchester United’s plan for Amad and Matthijs de Ligt has been explained after the duo were spotted in training ahead of Rúben Amorim’s clash against Athletic Club.
Manchester United are gearing up for their Europa League semi-final first leg against Athletic Club on Thursday afternoon — the most significant fixture of Rúben Amorim’s reign to date.
The Reds reached this stage in dramatic fashion, overturning Olympique Lyonnais in a thrilling quarter-final at Old Trafford. Goals from Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Harry Maguire within seven minutes completed a stunning comeback, sealing a 7-6 aggregate victory.
However, United’s domestic form has dipped since. They fell 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers before managing a last-minute 1-1 draw at Bournemouth, courtesy of Rasmus Højlund’s late strike.
With the focus now fully on European success, United have a short window to prepare before travelling to Spain on Wednesday ahead of a massive night in Amorim’s campaign.
Amad and De Ligt back in training
On Wednesday morning, United hosted an open training session for the club’s media and external outlets to observe, as they always do the day before a European fixture.
Amidst the smiling faces on a sunny day at Carrington training complex, it was noted that both Amad and Matthijs de Ligt had resumed first-team training, much to the joy of those watching.
Amad has been unavailable for around two and a half months after suffering a freak ankle injury in training in mid-February, while De Ligt has not featured since 1 April against Southampton.
While the usual suspects, such as Noussair Mazraoui, André Onana, and Bruno Fernandes, were also with the group, a host of young Academy talents were spotted.
Jaydan Kamason, Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson, Sekou Kone, Bentido Mantato, and Chido Obi were all part of the first-team training squad that underwent a full session under Amorim.
What Amorim plans to do with Amad and De Ligt
United’s training squad consisted of 27 players on Wednesday morning. Still, the team will only fly with a maximum of 23 players to Bilbao on Wednesday afternoon, meaning at least four of those who trained will not be part of the matchday squad on Thursday evening.
One of these will be 17-year-old Obi, who is ineligible for selection in the Europa League after he was omitted from United’s list of players for the competition’s second half of the season, much to Amorim’s regret.
While many United fans would love to see Amad back in action as soon as possible, reports from earlier this week have indicated that the current plan is for both players to return to first-team action this weekend.
It is therefore unlikely that either Amad or De Ligt will travel with the squad to Spain, as Amorim is known to be a cautious head coach when it comes to easing players back into action.
Instead, it has been reported that United will look to use the Sunday afternoon fixture against Brentford to allow Amad and De Ligt to return to action.
However, as Amad has already undergone several weeks of individual training and considering his importance to the side, there is a chance that he could line up from the start when Athletic Club visit Old Trafford for the second leg next week.
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