Manchester United will have to manage Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s work load over the coming weeks after he suffered a reoccurrence of a back injury while on international duty. The former Crystal Palace defender – a £55million summer arrival at Old Trafford – was set to be handed his first cap for England, but pulled out of the squad on Tuesday.
He was only able to take part in one training session with the side before becoming troubled with a back problem he had been carrying prior to the international break and which flared up again.
Wan-Bissaka was examined by England’s medical staff who felt it was best to send him back to United – who are already aware of the issue. England did not want to risk the 21-year-old in games against Bulgaria and Kosovo, particularly with two more right-backs – Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold – already in the squad.
“We tracked him very closely last year, and we thought he had an outstanding season last season, but we wanted him to stay with the Under-21 group,” Southgate said at the squad announcement. “He’s adapted very well and very quickly to a high-profile move. And playing in front of 70,000 fans, that brings intensity and pressure.
“We think we need to see them quickly and we also wanted to reintegrate Kieran Trippier back into the group just so he knows that he’s still on our radar, and he’s obviously had a big – a huge – move to Atlético Madrid, frankly, that kind of goes under the radar a little bit here and he’s started the season really well. So, it is an area of the pitch where we have a lot of quality.
“Kyle has started the season really well, so I’ve explained to him the rationale for the thinking. It’s not the case that he’s not playing well for Manchester City – it’s quite the opposite. So, yes, that is an area of the pitch with some really good, and four very different, options. They all have completely different strengths, and we’re looking forward to helping some of them develop.”
Manchester United, having started the season with an impressive 4- 0 win against Chelsea have henceforth on managed 5 points out of the first four, with a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, and only managing a point each against wolves and Southampton respectively.
Wan- Bissaka has featured as a constant Starter in all the four starting games for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United this season.
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