Erik ten Hag has confirmed that new £72m signing Rasmus Hojlund will not be available for their season opener against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night.
Hojlund was unveiled to the Old Trafford faithful prior to their 3-1 friendly win over Lens at the weekend, but the supporters will have to wait to see the new man in action.
The Danish striker has not played since scoring in his nation's 1-1 draw with Slovenia in mid-June, having missed chunks of pre-season with injury.
As speculation around his future intensified, Hojlund was an unused substitute in Atalanta's friendly win over Pro Vercelli, before missing their trip to Bournemouth with injury, despite travelling with the squad.
Now it appears those injury concerns have lingered and the 20-year-old will not be ready for the start of the new campaign.
Ten Hag was largely positive about the situation though when speaking to Sky Sports, saying: "I think he's making good progress at this moment. We have to see day by day how the progress will go, then we have to follow up,"
"Of course when he's available and he's here so you have the option to play, but we don't expect him in that short notice to be 100% fit. So we have to wait sometime more," Ten Hag added.
Hojlund scored 10 goals for Atalanta last season after a fantastic six months with Sturm Graz in Austria.
It would be Hojlund's breakout form in 2023 for La Dea and the Denmark national side which caught Europe's attention though.
Hojlund is still currently the joint-top scorer in Euro 2024 qualifying with six goals in four games, thanks largely to netting five in three days against Finland and Kazakhstan back in March.
United still have enough available options in attack to field a strong side in their league opener though.
Last season's 30-goal man Marcus Rashford has played as a central striker for much of pre-season, with Alejandro Garnacho filling his place on the left-wing.
Antony and Jadon Sancho now also have competition in the form of Mason Mount to contend with, while Bruno Fernandes should captain the side at Old Trafford on Monday.
Hojlund will join Anthony Martial and Amad Diallo on the sidelines for the start of the new season though. body check tags ::
