Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Eric Bailly has undergone a surgery after the recent knee injury and he will be kept out of action for four to five months at the least.
The Ivorian suffered the knee problem during the friendly against Tottenham Hotspur last week and it was initially suggested that he could return to training in around six weeks’ time.
However, speaking after the 1-0 friendly win over Kristiansund in Oslo, Solskjaer has revealed that the 25-year-old could be out until the turn of the year after undergoing an operation to rectify the damage.
“He’s had an operation. He’ll miss the best part of four or five months. Hopefully, we’ll get him back around about Christmas.” he told the club’s official website.
Bailly has suffered multiple injury setbacks in the past three seasons with the club and this has restricted him to just 50 appearances while finding himself out-of-favour for a regular starting role.
The same scenario is expected to continue with the latest knee injury and it remains to be seen whether the Ivorian can resurrect his Red Devils career on his comeback during the second half of the campaign.
Despite Bailly’s absence, the club are well covered in the central defensive department with the likes of Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Axel Tuanzebe and Marcos Rojo available at the manager’s disposal.
Still, Solskjaer seems desperate to land the signature of Harry Maguire from Leicester City following the club’s average defensive display last term, which saw them concede 54 goals in the Premier League alone.
Manchester United play their final pre-season friendly against AC Milan on Saturday before they prepare themselves for the season’s curtain raiser versus Chelsea on August 11.
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