Van Gaal's Injury Update Before Stoke Test

Louis van Gaal has told MUTV that Matteo Darmian will soon be fit for selection, although the Italian is not ready for Manchester United’s next match against Stoke City on Boxing Day.

The Reds are without a victory in six matches across all competitions and travel to the Britannia Stadium on Saturday hoping to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 2-1 defeat to Norwich City.

Darmian has not featured since suffering a hamstring injury in the first half of the Champions League defeat in Wolfsburg, but the manager says the full-back could return for the Chelsea match on 28 December.

Meanwhile, United will be without Jesse Lingard against Stoke as he continues to recover from the hamstring injury he picked up in this month’s Premier League defeat to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

Bastian Schweinsteiger will also complete his three-match ban from The FA against the Potters and is therefore unavailable alongside long-term absentees Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw.

Asked for an injury update by MUTV on Wednesday, van Gaal said: "It is more or less the same so there is no difference, only that Phil Jones played 90 minutes against Norwich and had no reaction. That’s a good signal.

"I think Darmian shall come next week and then maybe against Chelsea, we have to see that but of course we have injuries that take a long time. For example, Shaw, Valencia and Rojo, and you cannot change that."