Erik ten Hag may have shot himself in the foot with one of his summer transfer decisions, which could be about to haunt him. The Dutchman is facing a defensive injury crisis at Manchester United after just four games of the new Premier League season.
Noussair Mazraoui and Lisandro Martinez both appeared to pick up knocks during United’s win at Southampton on the weekend. Matthijs de Ligt was also substituted but later explained that it was down to fatigue rather than an injury scare.
If they are ruled out for more than a few days, it will leave United short of options at the back with two games coming up this week. They will face Barnsley in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday before returning to league action at Crystal Palace four days later.
United could be forced to jam square pegs into round holes with Martinez potentially unavailable for both fixtures. The situation would not be quite as bleak if they had kept hold of Willy Kambwala, who was sold to Villarreal in the summer.
Kambwala would have been the perfect solution to step in as injury cover, especially in the game against Barnsley. The teenager showed plenty of promise when called upon last season, impressing on his Premier League debut against West Ham.
His assured displays made an impression on Ten Hag, who singled him out for special praise after United’s draw with Liverpool towards the end of the campaign.
“He has been training a while with us and progressing well,” said the Red Devils manager. “The next generation need to step in and he is doing brilliant. The challenge for him is doing it consistently.
“We have other options, like bringing Casemiro in at centre-half, but today he deserved it and he showed it on the pitch.”
Kambwala’s strong cameos were not enough to prevent him from being sold to Villarreal, where he has continued to kick on. He played the entire 90 minutes in their victory over Sevilla last month, showing that he can be trusted to do a job at the highest level.
It remains to be seen if Ten Hag will live to regret his decision to sell Kambwala if Mazraoui and Martinez are ruled out for any length of time. He will certainly be hoping for both players to recover quickly with the games already starting to come thick and fast.
