Rashford, McTominay & Varane: Man Utd injury news and return dates ahead of Bournemouth match

Manchester United travel to Bournemouth this Saturday for the late Premier League kick-off, but they’ll make the journey with quite a few empty seats on the team bus – as many as nine first-team players could miss the long journey to Dorset.

Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay are among the latest names to be added to the injury list, with Rashford picking up a knock in the 2-2 draw against Liverpool while McTominay missed the match entirely.

There is some good news with defenders Raphaël Varane and Jonny Evans in line to make their returns from recent injuries, but Erik ten Hag will still have limited options as he looks to snap a three-match losing streak. We’ve collected all of the latest injury news and likely return dates below for you.

Marcus Rashford

Rashford picked up an injury just after the hour mark of the draw with Liverpool and was forced from the field, but all signs suggest that it isn’t serious. Ten Hag said after the game “I don’t think it will be long term,” while the England international himself added “I will be OK!” on social media. No details of the nature of the injury have been made public – United have consistently kept their cards very close to their chest with injuries this season – but there appears to be every chance that Rashford will be ready to play at least some part against Bournemouth.

Raphaël Varane

The French defender has been struggling with what appeared to be an ankle injury recently, playing just 45 minutes each against Brentford and Chelsea before missing the Liverpool game entirely. The injury is not believed to be serious, however, and while Ten Hag has been non-committal on when he will return, he was believed to be touch-and-go for last weekend’s game and could well be fit by Saturday. Given injuries elsewhere, United will certainly hope he’s fully healed up.

Jonny Evans

The veteran centre-half has been called upon rather more often than Ten Hag would have expected at the start of the season, but he too missed the Liverpool game thanks to an unspecified muscular injury - Evans was brought on to replace Varane against Chelsea only be taken off 20 minutes later himself. Like the Frenchman, he was believed to be close to fitness ahead of last weekend and could well be ready to play this time around.

Lisandro Martínez

The World Cup champion has had a torrid time with injuries this season and his latest comeback from injury, against Brentford a fortnight ago, lasted just 21 minutes before he sustained a calf injury. The club have confirmed that he will be out of action for at least a month, meaning that the early May match against Crystal Palace is probably the most optimistic target. He will miss at least the next three league matches.

Victor Lindelöf

The centre-half is yet another recent injury victim and missed the games against Chelsea and Liverpool thanks to a hamstring injury. As with Martínez, the club have confirmed that he will be unavailable for at least a month, so the Swede’s rehabilitation should have much the same timeline.

Luke Shaw

It had been thought that it would be touch-and-go as to whether Shaw would return before the end of the season after England manager Gareth Southgate admitted that he thought it was unlikely that his first-choice left-back would be fit enough to play every match at Euro 2024 – but Ten Hag has offered a more optimistic update, telling reporters that “I expect him back, I think, before the end of the season. That is the plan, and he is still on schedule for this.” He will still be out until early May at the very least.

Scott McTominay

The energetic midfielder missed out on a place in the squad for the game against old rivals Liverpool with Ten Hag confirming to the media that he was injured, but no specifics have been given and we don’t know for sure what the problem is or how long the Scotsman might be out for. A report in The Daily Mail suggested that it was a knee issue and that he would be out for two to three weeks, but that remains unconfirmed.

Anthony Martial

The French forward has been out since January after undergoing successful surgery on a groin injury. The initial timeline offered by the club suggested that he should be back in action in early to mid-April, but we have had no further updates and there has been no sign of him training as yet.

Tyrell Malacia

The Dutch left-back has missed the entire season so far with a serious knee injury and there are few who expect him to feature before the end of the season after setbacks in his rehabilitation. Ten Hag has told the press that Malacia is making positive progress and will return to on-field training “soon” but it seems unlikely that he will be in the matchday squad before the end of May.