Jose Mourinho has confirmed Ander Herrera is definitely unavailable for Manchester United’s highly anticipated Premier League match against rivals Chelsea on Sunday.
The Spain international picked up an injury in the early stages of the first half during Wednesday night’s Champions League last-16 first leg at Sevilla’s Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The severity of Herrera’s problem is yet to be determined and, as such, the manager does not know long the central midfielder will be sidelined, but he will not feature at Old Trafford this weekend.
"Ander is out," Mourinho said in his press conference. "I don't know the final diagnosis but I know he'll be out for a few weeks. I don't know how many is a few - two, three, four, five, six weeks - I don't know, but a few weeks, for sure. Coming back from injury - nobody else." No other players will return from injury against Chelsea, according to Jose, which means Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo are both still unfit for action, as well as Marouane Fellaini and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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The France international was named on the bench against Sevilla, before he replaced the injured Herrera after just 14 minutes. Mourinho was asked about the player during the press conference on Friday.
"I think he responded in a very professional way, both times he was on the bench," Jose told reporters at the Aon Training Complex. "He was on the bench against Huddersfield in the Premier League and he responded in a professional way. He was on the bench in Seville and he did the same." On the same subject, the boss also said: "You saw the game against Sevilla - I think it's always more difficult to come from the bench than to start. A player when he's starting the game has a different kind of preparation for it and to come on even without warming up, in minute 15, or minute 20, and to get into the pace of the game is not easy.
"I think he had a very positive game for us and sometimes, details are details, but sometimes players on the bench take five minutes to be ready to play. They don't have shinpads, they don't have the strapping, they don't have a shirt. He took 10 seconds to be ready to come to the pitch, which showed the professionalism that he was ready to play and help the team, which he did."
