Jose Mourinho Has Named The Three Players That Can Replace Eric Bailly

Manchester United's defensive crisis when from bad to worse yesterday, with Eric Bailly forced off with an injury during the 1-1 draw with Swansea City at Old Trafford.

Jose Mourinho is already without Chris Smalling and Phil Jones for the rest of the season and also saw Marcos Rojo sustain an injury against Anderlecht last week which will likely cause the Argentine defender to miss five months of action.

Now, the United boss is likely going to have to make plans for this week's two huge games against Celta Vigo and Arsenal that don't involve Bailley.

The former Villareal centre-half was withdrawn with a calf injury suffered during a challenge with Swansea striker Fernando Llorente and is unlikely to feature in either game, this week.

Eric Bailly

Bailly injured his calf during yesterday's 1-1 draw with Swansea City. Image: PA

The injury means Mourinho is left with only one recognised centre-half in Daley Blind and even then, it's arguable that centre-back isn't the Dutchman's strongest position.

Ahead of Thursday's trip to Celta, Mourinho has named the three options he is weighing up to line up alongside Blind.

Bailly

The Ivorian's injury has left Jose Mourinho facing a defensive crisis. Image: PA

The Portuguese manager's choices are youngster Axel Tuanzebe, Italian right-back Matteo Darmian or midfielder Michael Carrick.

"I don't think they (Jones and Smalling) will (be fit), that's my personal opinion, I don't think they will but I know that the players I choose they give everything.

"It doesn't matter if I go with (Matteo) Darmian central defender, if I go with (Michael) Carrick or Axel (Tuanzebe), I trust the boys.

"The spirit is amazing, the group is phenomenal. Fellaini and (Paul) Pogba will be back for that game, so we have more options and we try with everything we have and we go again."

It is believed Mourinho is targeting a new centre-half, this Summer with rumours linking United and Benfica's Swedish defender Victor Lindelof refusing to go away.

(H/T Metro)

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Eric Bailly

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

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