David De Gea’s return for Man Utd against Hammers ‘touch and go’

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says David De Gea is “rubbing and biting” for the Manchester United Premier League clash with West Ham high-flying flights to England following the birth of his first child.

Despite the quarantine headaches associated with coronavirus, the Red Devils boss had no excuse to let the 30-year-old fly to Spain to be with his partner for the birth of their baby the last week.

Solskjaer said last Friday that he expected De Gea to be “soon available” and said they must “just follow Government rules” after the keeper lost Wednesday’s draw at Crystal Palace. .

Dean Henderson was representing that night and cheering again in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester City but was found to be missing when AC Milan made it 1-1 at the death in the Europa League Thursday-16 first leg.

When asked about what De Gea has to offer for a visit to West Ham on Sunday, Solskjaer said: “Yeah, David is back in Manchester. It is quarantining or self-isolated.

“He’s just rubbing and leaving for Sunday, I think. I do not know when he returned, so I am not sure whether he returned to Manchester on Monday or Tuesday. “

The current rules allow Spanish passengers to be released from quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19 after five days of isolation.

Pushed to clarify De Gea’s position, the United boss said: “I think there are rules that he has to stay at home.

“He doesn’t train with us at all. It’s different if you travel away and compete like that, no, he hasn’t trained since he returned. ”

De Gea would return to a side that is starting to count the cost of injuries after getting through the Christmas festivities relatively cloud-free.

Anthony Martial must make an assessment after his hip complaint was dismissed at halftime Thursday, ensuring Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani were not present.

“Anthony, he got a whale on his thigh so that’s another improvement we need to scan and look at,” Solskjaer said.

“Of course I hope Marcus is back for next Thursday in Milan, I’m not sure if he will do it on Sunday, but fingers crossed because we will need him.

“Edinson I don’t think it will be ready for Sunday, no. ”

Paul Pogba, Donny van de Beek and Juan Mata will also be out of the Hammers ’goal.

“No, I don’t think any of that will be available,” the United boss said of the trio. “We are hoping for an international break but I’m not sure. It will take a little while longer than we expected.

“But three games now, an international break and then after that they will be available with us.”

The steady rise in injury cases was behind Solskjaer ‘s initial reliance on Jesse Lingard to leave, despite not having play time in the first half of the season.

But the 28-year-old was allowed to join West Ham on loan until the end of the season and has succeeded, scoring four goals in six goals.

“For Jesse it has worked out, for David (Moyes) it has worked out and for us as a club too because we know Jesse’s 10 position and we have Bruno (Fernandes) there,” said Solskjaer .

“So for me, it wasn’t great to have the opportunity for Jesse to prove himself and play football again.

“It’s been very clear to them and he’s finally back to himself.”

Lingard is not outright against his parent club at Old Trafford, where Eric Bailly hopes to retain his starting position in defense.

The 26-year-old has suffered a setback since joining United in 2016, managing more than 20 appearances in just one of his four previous seasons at the club.

But Bailly has already appeared 15 times in all contests this term and talks are underway to extend his contract beyond next year.

“Yeah, we’ve started talking to Eric and Eric’s representatives,” Solskjaer said.

“Eric stays happier for a longer time and you can see his achievements too. I have been very pleased with it.

“His style of playing has made him (miss) too many games because 100 games is not enough for the time he has been here. He’s getting stronger and so, yeah, he’s the one we’re talking to. ”