Man Utd await news on Africa Cup of Nations trio ahead of Bournemouth clash

By Simon Peach, Press Association Chief Football Writer

Ruben Amorim says Manchester United are still waiting to find out whether Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui can face Bournemouth before going to the Africa Cup of Nations.

FIFA announced last week that the release period for the biennial championship “will be reduced by seven days and start on Monday, December 15 2025”.

United host Bournemouth that day and boss Amorim claims he is still in the dark as to the availability of his three players heading to the tournament.

Boss Amorim said: “We are still in conversations with the national teams.

“The game is just Monday. They are here, they are training and we are trying to prepare all the scenarios for the game.

“It’s frustrating but at the same time nobody knows who is going to play, so it’s a good thing I think.

“We have players to cope with everything and that is something with a long week, you can see a lot of things and work on several stuff to prepare the game in any situation.”

Versatile defender Mazraoui is due to play for hosts Morocco against Comoros in the Africa Cup of Nations opener on December 21.

Cameroon international Mbeumo and Ivory Coast star Diallo play their first game of the tournament on December 24.

Asked when he expects clarity on the trio, Amorim said: “I don’t know if it’s going to be same situation.

“It depends on the games, every national team has their ideas about when they want the players.

“I expect today to have a decision or maybe tomorrow, but we are waiting until the last moment to have all the players to choose the best team to start the game.”

Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt remain absent for the visit of Bournemouth, but striker Benjamin Sesko could feature for the first time since sustaining a knee injury at Tottenham five weeks ago.

“Maguire is out, De Ligt is out,” he said. “Ben we have to see.

“We have to see if he’s available. He had some (food) poisoning but we’ll see. Let’s wait. We have two training (sessions) still. Benjamin we will assess.

“(De Ligt) has something in his back. I don’t know for sure. Sometimes you see it’s not a big injury because he finished the game quite well against Crystal Palace, but he has some pain.

“So, you sometimes think that it’s going to solve during this week but sometimes he feels a little bit of pain and we have to be careful with that.”