Ruben Amorim still does not know whether Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui will be available for Manchester United’s game at home to Bournemouth on Monday after they were called up for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Monday is the mandatory date set by Fifa for clubs to release players for the tournament, which starts in Morocco on 21 December. Diallo, Mbeumo and Mazraoui have been called up by Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Morocco respectively. Fifa has said it will mediate between clubs and national teams if there is a dispute.
Amorim said: “We are still in conversations with the national teams, the game is on Monday so they are training and we are trying to prepare all scenarios. It’s frustrating but at the same time nobody knows who is going to play, so it’s a good thing. We have players to cope with everything.
“With a long week you can work on several things to prepare for the game. Every national team has their ideas about when they want the players. I expect tomorrow [Saturday] to have a decision but we are waiting until the last moment to choose the best team.”
United are sixth and have lost only once in their past nine Premier League games. Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt remain unavailable owing to injury but Benjamin Sesko may return. Amorim said: “He has some food poisoning but let’s wait – we still have two training sessions.”
Of Monday’s challenge the head coach said: “It’s a top team, top manager [Andoni Iraola]. I don’t look at the results, I look at the way they face every opponent: they press really hard, they are direct in the game. I expect a really tough game but we need to win, especially at home.”
