Manchester United: Bailly latest; interest in Premier League striker; Mourinho squad clash

By Sam Leveridge

There has been an update on the injury suffered by Eric Bailly in action at Stamford Bridge in the Red Devils’ humiliating defeat on Sunday, with his knee ligament damage not as severe as was first feared. The Daily Mail claim that he is expected to be out for around two months while recovering from the injury, though had it been worse he could have missed the rest of the season. Either way, it is a blow to lose their in form £30 million signing.

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Bailly has been the most impressive of all of Jose Mourinho’s additions in the summer transfer window and the Portuguese manager has few options available to him in his absence. With Phil Jones out injured, the most likely alternative is to see Danny Blind alongside Chris Smalling in a central role with Luke Shaw returning at left back.

At the other end of the field, the agent of Watford striker Odion Ighalo, Patrick Bastianelli, quoted in the Metro, has revealed that the club attempted to make a move for the Nigerian in the summer:

“In the last year he has also been wanted by Chelsea and Manchester United, but Watford had not even sat down to deal with then. In January it may be difficult to go away, Watford and the Pozzo family has excellent relations with Napoli, but it will be difficult to sell in the winter market. We’re talking about a guy who is part of the Nigerian national team. In football anything can happen, we’ll see.”

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Ighalo would not come cheap, with a £38 million bid from the Chinese Super League reportedly turned down by the Hornets in the summer.The 27-year-old has notched twice this season after scoring on 17 occasions last campaign, but it still remains difficult to see how he would fit into a United set-up under Mourinho. It may be agent talk, but Ighalo certainly has the track record to attract attention from clubs like United.

Sources in the first team squad at the club have revealed to Paul Hirst at the Times that they have been shocked by the attitude of Jose Mourinho towards his squad. Despite his reputation as previously having been a very hands-on coach, they claim that he now leaves many training sessions to his assistant Rui Faria, with Mourinho either absent or only briefly present before watching from afar or from his office.

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The Old Trafford dressing room is clearly one that is far from happy with numerous rumours of discontent with how Mourinho is treating the squad, with some squad members said to have been upset by his treatment of Luke Shaw after defeat to Watford last month. With results failing to appear, the pressure is mounting on Mourinho.

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