What Manchester United are doing to prevent another injury crisis

Football director John Murtough has revealed Manchester United are looking into the injury crisis that has plagued the club in the early stages of the season.

Erik ten Hag has been without a whole host of his first-team stars this season. Defenders Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are currently sidelined through injury, while Raphael Varane missed United's narrow win over Brentford prior to the international break.

Summer signings Mason Mount, Sofyan Amrabat and Rasmus Hojlund have already spent time in the treatment room, the latter arriving at the club with a back problem picked up prior to his move. Meanwhile, Kobbie Mainoo, Amad, Tyrell Malacia, Harry Maguire and Tom Heaton have also been unavailable at various points this season, with all bar Maguire yet to make an appearance this term.

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Speaking at a fans' forum on Friday, Murtough addressed the club's injury concerns. He revealed steps are being taken to ensure a similar crisis is avoided in the future, pointing to the hectic fixture list as an unavoidable factor.

"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