Manchester United’s recent signings, Rasmus Hojlund (20) and Sergio Reguilon (26), are likely to make their debuts for the club in the upcoming match against Arsenal this weekend, Erik ten Hag has confirmed.
Denmark striker Hojlund, who joined Old Trafford from Atalanta for a reported fee of £64 million ($82 million) in August, had been sidelined due to a back injury.
However, Ten Hag confirmed that Hojlund is now fit to participate in the match against Arsenal on Sunday. Additionally, the new goalkeeper, Altay Bayindir, and the left-back, Reguilon (on loan from Tottenham), will also be eligible for selection in that game.
“Yes (Hojlund will be available),” Ten Hag said Friday. “He had a good training week so tomorrow we have the final training. But he is doing well, responding well, so, yeah, he will be available for Sunday’s game.
“(Bayindir) will be in the squad as well, Altay, so happy.
“Now we have the keeper group fully there. We covered every position so I think we have a very good keeper group with the arrival of Altay.”
United had not officially confirmed Reguilon’s signing when Ten Hag faced the media, but the Dutchman, asked if the defender would feature at the Emirates Stadium, replied: “He is here, he trained. Yes (he will also be available for Sunday).
“He’s a very experienced player, played for big clubs, played already a lot of games in La Liga, Premier League, so, yes, I think very good background.”
Ten Hag moved for Reguilon after injuries to Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia, followed by a failed attempt to sign Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella on loan.
“We have seen he can play very intense football, so we are happy while we had a problem with Luke Shaw injured, Tyrell Malacia injured, therefore long-term out. So I think we responded very well on that emergency situation,” he added.
United, having already made deadline-day moves for Bayindir and Reguilon, are also reportedly in talks with Fiorentina for Sofyan Amrabat.
“There are so many rumours but it’s nice, eh?,” Ten Hag said when asked about the Morocco midfielder.
“I think we have done good business, we constructed a strong squad and we are ready to go in to the fight.”
Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay could now both stay at United despite reports linking them with moves away from Old Trafford.
“If you see the schedule, it’s tough, it’s really condensed,” Ten Hag said.
“When you see last season the World Cup, crazy season, the season takes longer, two weeks longer. We played FA Cup final one week longer.
“We had a short break, we had a really condensed pre-season again, so we need numbers. But also we need not only numbers, the numbers have to be quality.
“I think, yeah, with this squad we have depth and we have quality players and we can be in a variety of systems and we are happy with it.
“We are ready to go into the fight.”