Man Utd to investigate injury crisis that has left Erik ten Hag without two-thirds of his first-team squad this season

United's start to the campaign has been plagued by fitness issues. A total of six first-team members are unavailable to coach Erik ten Hag for the long-term, including Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Amad Dialo and Kobbie Mainoo. Meanwhile, the likes of Raphael Varane, Sergio Reguilon and Mason Mount have missed matches due to fitness trouble and Casemiro is the latest to cause some concern after picking up a knock while playing for Brazil.

The injury problems are a key reason behind the Red Devils' underwhelming start to the 2023-24 season. They have lost four of their eight Premier League matches and both of the games they have played in the Champions League.

Murtough says the club hope to find the root cause of their persistent injuries as he suggested the team's intense playing schedule could be a reason behind their struggles.

"There are some strong mitigations for the mixed results so far, including 16 first-team players being injured or unavailable for periods since the start of the season," he said. "That’s two-thirds of the squad and means that Erik has not been able to pick his strongest XI once this season. Thankfully, we’ve started to see some of the injured players returning and that should make a difference, including our new signings Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount who are still bedding into the team.

"We’re also looking at why we’ve had so many injuries to see if there’s any patterns to improve prevention in future. Some of them have been impact injuries such as Kobbie’s and Amad’s, which are unpredictable. Others have been muscular and could reflect the sheer volume of games played over the past year, including last year’s World Cup."

United, who are 10th in the table, will visit Sheffield United in their next match on October 21.