Manchester United and Bournemouth have several players who may not feature in Monday night’s clash at Old Trafford with Noussair Mazraoui, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo uncertain due to AFCON
17:06, 14 Dec 2025Updated 17:08, 14 Dec 2025
Bryan Mbeumo could be one of the Manchester United players to miss Monday’s game against Bournemouth (Image: Getty Images)
Manchester United’s clash with Bournemouth on Monday night could see 10 players missing due to injury, suspension, or unavailability due to the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Reds are aiming to keep the availability of Noussair Mazraoui, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo under wraps ahead of Monday’s game at Old Trafford. All three are set to depart for AFCON early next week.
FIFA has set a release date of Monday, December 15, for clubs to release players for the tournament, which kicks off on Saturday, December 21. This, however, has created a predicament for United due to their match against the Cherries being scheduled for Monday evening.
Club officials have been in discussions with the football federations of Morocco, the Ivory Coast and Cameroon regarding all three players in an attempt to secure an extension. This would allow them to participate in the Bournemouth match before jetting off to the tournament in Morocco.
United head coach Ruben Amorim expressed his uncertainty in Friday’s pre-match press conference over whether the trio would be able to play in the game when asked for an update on the situation. The former Sporting boss confessed his frustration with the situation, just three days before the match.
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Elsewhere, defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire are out injured, while striker Benjamin Sesko remains a doubt due to food poisoning, despite having returned to first-team training after a knee injury.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, are set to be without four players. Lewis Cook is suspended, while Ryan Christie, Matai Akinmboni and Ben Doak are injured.
When asked about United’s unavailable players on Friday, Amorim admitted there could be last-minute decisions on players. He said: “Maguire is out, De Ligt is out. Ben [Sesko], we have to see.
“We have to see if he’s available. He had some [food] poisoning, but we’ll see. Let’s wait.
“We have two trainings still. The other two are out, Benjamin, we will assess.”
Amorim later expanded on the nature of De Ligt’s injury, after he sat out of the draw against West Ham and last Monday night’s win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“I think he has something in his back, I don’t know for sure,” he said. “Sometimes you see it’s not a big injury because he finished the game quite well against Crystal Palace, but he has some pain.
“You sometimes think it will be solved during this week, but sometimes he feels a little bit of pain, and we have to be a little careful with that.”
On those going to AFCON, he added: “I expect today to have a decision or maybe tomorrow, but we are waiting until the last moment to have all the players available, to choose the best team to start the game.”