Man Utd star to miss remainder of the season with knee injury

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has confirmed Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek will miss the rest of the current season with a knee injury.

Van de Beek joined United from Ten Hag's Ajax in 2020, though his career at Old Trafford has never really taken off. Ten Hag's arrival at United last summer has not seen a change in the 25-year-old's fortunes, though there were suggestions his integration into the team would begin again in recent weeks.

He started the 3-0 Premier League win over Bournemouth on January 3, hinting he could add to the 10 appearances he's made so far this season in the long term, but was substituted in that game following a heavy tackle by Marcos Senesi.

Ten Hag confirmed ahead of Saturday's Manchester derby that the tackle was enough to end the player's current campaign - confirming he would only be back for the start of pre-season next term.

“Yes, it is his knee," Ten Hag confirmed. "On the long term it is looking really good, he will be back for the start of pre-season. But the rest of the season he is out.

“Our thoughts are with him, it is terrible when you are in a season and you get a bad tackle, bad injury, it is always really disappointing and our thoughts, feelings are with the player.

“Our group did that really well and we are now happy his knee, in the long term, is good. In the same moments, there are mixed feelings and disappointment that he is out of this season.

“The players are feeling we are building something good and we want to be part of it and everyone wants to be part of it. That injury he is out so there are two sides of it but the good sides are the long term he is out.”

On this edition of TPL, Scott Saunders & Rob Blanchette discuss Man Utd's chances in the Manchester derby, and hear from Rio Ferdinand on Wout Weghorst and his ideal centre forward signing for MUFC.