£42m gamble, transfer U-turn - how Manchester United could line up without Leny Yoro

Manchester United have not even reached the conclusion of their pre-season tour of the United States and they have already run into a couple of problems.

After Rasmus Hojlund limped off against Arsenal, Leny Yoro soon joined him in the treatment room and will be out for three months with a fractured metatarsal.

United saw off competition from Real Madrid to lure Yoro to Old Trafford. The fact he is now facing a spell on the sidelines before making his competitive debut is a huge blow.

Fortunately, United do have other options at centre-back. Jonny Evans put pen to paper on a new one-year deal last month, re-joining Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof in the centre-back department. Martinez is a guaranteed starter for United when fit, leaving Maguire, Lindelof and Evans battling it out to join him in the heart of the back four.

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However, United want to sell Lindelof before the end of this month as he is out of contract next summer. He deserves regular first-team football and it would make sense for all parties for him to move on.

The loss of Yoro, however, means United may no longer be in such a hurry to offload the Swede. Maguire, despite his renaissance last season, has been prone to injury issues in recent months and Evans will turn 37 in January.

But to United's credit, they had evidently planned for this possibility when it emerged last month they were open to signing three centre-backs this summer. At that juncture, Evans had not signed a new deal and Yoro had not put pen to paper.

It is no secret United hold interest in Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite and Matthijs de Ligt of Bayern Munich, and