“For Matta, it is a small thing. I expect to have Matthijs next game.”
Ruben Amorim – remember him – had very little doubt that his star defender at the time, who had played every second of Premier League action until Manchester United’s clash with West Ham on 4 December, would only be temporarily absent.
Back then, Amorim was not even under pressure. Supporters still believed in his project. Five months on and a whole revolution has come full circle at Old Trafford, and the next leader of the uprising, Michael Carrick, is facing criticism after a disappointing home defeat to Leeds United.
What seemed like the smallest of niggles has kept Matthijs de Ligt out for the entirety of Carrick’s insurrection. Like his predecessor, Carrick has publicly declared the Dutchman was nearing a return to action on more than one occasion.
Plentiful times De Ligt has been “on the grass”, training with team-mates, only to set up camp back in the treatment room once more. He did not attend United’s mid-season training camp in Dublin last week, the club feeling De Ligt would be best off back at Carrington, receiving more treatment.
The bizarre, somewhat unexplained absence has led to all kinds of conspiracy theories flooding social media. What are the club hiding? Why are we never given a concrete return date? How does a player who was supposed to be absent for a few days remain jettisoned out in the cold for so long?
Had De Ligt undergone knee surgery or ruptured his ACL, we would have a much better indication of when he would be returning to action. Instead, given his injury is to the back, where a myriad of neurological complications make the diagnosis almost impossible, he can seem ready for action one day, then wake up feeling completely different the next.
Well-placed sources are keen to stress there are no setbacks, as is often reported, with this type of injury. United’s medical staff are aware that with back injuries, you have good and bad days.
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Any condition related to the nervous system has these kinds of issues. Nothing especially aggravates the discomfort; it just happens this way with back injuries.
If he is not ready, De Ligt will not be rushed back, however. Sources are adamant that the club will take the long-term view, and if they have to wait until next season to make sure he is fully recovered, they will.
