Eric Bailly: Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho says defender could miss next three months

Last updated on 15 December 2017.From the section Man Utd255

Manchester United defender Eric Bailly could be out for up to three months and needs surgery on an ankle injury, says manager Jose Mourinho.

The 23-year-old centre-back has not played for his club since the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea on 5 November.

Bailly suffered the injury whilst he was on international duty with the Ivory Coast.

Mourinho said: "Eric is going for surgery. He won't be out for the season but it will be two or three months."

Mourinho started Chris Smalling and Phil Jones for Wednesday's 1-0 win over Bournemouth, and, following that win, the Portuguese boss said he was happy with his options at centre-back.

"During the whole season, we've had problems with central defenders but because the number is four or five, we manage always to have [players available] and Chris Smalling is playing amazingly well for seven or eight matches in a row maybe, so we are fine."

Bailly was the first player to sign for United after Mourinho took over as manager, joining from Villarreal in the summer of 2016 for £30m.

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255 comments

Comment posted by Barry_Chuckle, at 10:17 14 Dec 2017
3. "United's defence is iffy at best"

Really? How on earth did you arrive at that conclusion?

United have the joint lowest goals conceded in the league this season. Only Barcelona have conceded fewer in the Champions League this season.

Why not spend a few seconds of thinking time before posting such obvious nonsense?
Comment posted by kevin_sandwiches, at 11:16 14 Dec 2017
im not a fan of man utd but it is always sad to see a talented young player get a potentially serious injury no matter who they play for..
i wish eric a speedy recovery!
Comment posted by Andy and Rachel, at 12:37 14 Dec 2017
There are a lot of ABU fans on here fishing...
United have only 'parked the bus' once this season - at Anfield.
They have outscored every other team in the league with the exception of City.
Jose gets a lot of stick for the way he sets teams up - but he's still won more at United that Pep has at City, and United are still the second best team in the league currently.
GGMU!
Comment posted by Bird, at 10:19 14 Dec 2017
13. Posted by CDawg on
2 minutes ago
Excellent
--------------

Only a classless twit would wish Ill on any player, regardless of which club they play for.

Shouldn't you be at school now??
Comment posted by georgieboy, at 10:13 14 Dec 2017
8. really? Robinho, Mangala, Dzeko, Fernando, Bony, Nasri, Navas, Sagna, Milner, Barry, Bravo, Nolito,... to name but a few...... At least think about your comments when trying to troll.
Comment posted by Des Wigwam, at 12:57 14 Dec 2017
Hey all you ABU's out there who complain about United HYS. Stop feeding the furnace with your posts then you will likely get less.
Comment posted by mancneil, at 11:02 14 Dec 2017
To all the ABU’s on here who refer to man united as manure is that really the best you can come up with !! Don’t you realise how childish and immature it makes you look !!
Comment posted by User0766887094, at 10:43 14 Dec 2017
ABU's hating on a United player, what a surprise.

They used to call Rooney rubbish, United and Englands record goalscorer. So probably the best player England have ever produced.

They used to call Ronaldo Rubbish aswell. Scholes was a rubbish player who couldn't tackle. Keano was just a thug. And Giggs was a disgrace for quitting international duty aged 30!

Haters gonna hate.
Comment posted by MDC1991, at 10:16 14 Dec 2017
Despite having statistically the PLs best defence (alongside City) I'm always a bit concerned by Smalling and Rojo. The former isn't a top notch defender, the other is always too close to the edge with his discipline. Jones has looked much better this year but is prone to errors, and it's not fair to expect much from Lindelof in his first PL season. Bailly & his physicality will be sorely missed.
Comment posted by D1679184257658, at 10:59 14 Dec 2017
Bailly has POTENTIAL to be the best CB in the league - he is big, strong, quick, skillful, courageous and good going forward. If only he could stay injury free for six months. His penchant for the occasional mad mistakes is not in the Lidelof class but most United fans remember Evra and De Gea's iffy intros to the PL and they turned out to be not too shabby at all.
Comment posted by Yoel Romero, at 11:29 14 Dec 2017
@36 Arsenal is a sinking ship and ozil is going to United, can understand why you would come on a united article to hate... Bailly is better than every arsenal defender btw.
Comment posted by D1679304119067, at 10:17 14 Dec 2017
We're cursed by injuries to central defenders, have been since Vidic and Ferdinand faded. Always annoyed me how Jonny Evans constantly had ankle injuries at Utd, now he plays game after game at West Brom. Phil Jones isn't going to stay fit is he? Top defender but he'll do a gurn at some point and be out injured with a twisted forehead. As Mourinho said, at least we're well stocked with options.
Comment posted by User0532541719, at 17:18 15 Dec 2017
BBC are really milking this story...
Comment posted by User0042615861, at 18:55 15 Dec 2017
As a UTD fan I look at this current City team with wonder.

Winning 15 games is a record that UTD can only dream of.
Comment posted by Andy and Rachel, at 12:52 14 Dec 2017
The Berties are out in force again I see...
So many comments by them on a HYS article about United...

If these morons hate United so much - why read every article about United that they can find, thus ensuring more United articles will be written!

Am sure there are articles about Citeh/Liverpool on the BBC - I wouldn't know as I don't tend to look for them, being a united fan!Funny that!
Comment posted by D1710786190612, at 11:21 14 Dec 2017
@25. "Dont see any solidarity in the supporters". ??? We are United supporters, we are allowed to have opinions on the performances of our players. They are playing for United, that means they have huge expectations placed on them and if they are not up to it I for one will say so. You can do the same with the club you support, or are you too busy on the United HYSs.
Comment posted by Jeb, at 10:28 14 Dec 2017
Time for Rojo and Lindelof to state their claims then.
Comment posted by D1710786190612, at 11:03 14 Dec 2017
We have enough cover but he will still be a miss. My concern is the number of long term injuries we have picked up over the last few seasons, is there something wrong with our physical prep for the players, or is it a physio problem? Last season alone we had three CBs out with injury at the same time, so far this season all 4 of our best squad CBs have had time out with knocks. It needs looking at
Comment posted by Hot Bovril Cold Pie, at 16:29 15 Dec 2017
179, How are people that pay the BBC a licence fee trolls?, when they've paid for the privilege to post on any open HYS on this website?
Just because the football dept at Media city can see Old Trafford out of their office window doesn't give them the right to adopt it and affiliate with it at us(the licence payers)expense, commercial sites are free to do as they like.
Comment posted by e60london, at 14:38 14 Dec 2017
A lot of people crying about Lukaku but he is still one of the top scoring steikers of the season so far, and has played 90mins of every game - never been subbed -BURNOUT
City got two goals from his mistakes defending - not his job. Strikers used to wait of the halfway line to start a counter attack from the clearance of corners. This is what you get when you use strikers to do defenders jobs!!!