MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Louis van Gaal has confirmed that Wayne Rooney will miss the Red Devils’ game against West Ham due to a “nasty” ankle injury.
The England captain was forced off during Saturday’s match against Leicester City and van Gaal says that the problem is worse than originally thought.
“The injury of Wayne Rooney is more heavy than we thought,” he told MUTV.
“It’s a nasty injury. When we go on, it’s been getting worse. We have to let him train to make the ankle stronger; that’s very important. I cannot say [for how long he will be out] because the doctor shall decide that with Wayne, of course. He is training well in the rehabilitation.”
The United boss also explained that defender Marcos Rojo is out of the match after injuring his shoulder in training, while Ander Herrera and Phil Jones remain sidelined.
Young forward Jesse Lingard, however, is fit to return to the side as he seeks to make his 10th appearance of what is becoming a breakthrough season at Old Trafford.
“It’s [Rojo's] shoulder, the same as last year, in a training session. It’s very unfortunate, also in the positon of Luke Shaw so I have a great problem,” Van Gaal continued. “Lingard is coming back, which is good. Jones is still injured so we have six injuries.”
With absentees piling up, the Dutchman admits that he has been resting his players a lot in order to keep them fresh ahead of the busy Christmas period.
“The week after next, we have two weeks that we can have more recovery,” he noted. “I have already given the players two days off this week.
“I’m giving them a lot of rest because I think it’s necessary. Nevertheless, we have six injuries, most of which are contact injuries. You cannot avoid those because football is a sport with direct resistance. We are unlucky, I have to say.”
