Solskjaer confirms James absence – Betfred Blog - (2025)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Daniel James will miss Manchester United’s clash with Astana in the Europa League on Thursday due to injury (Match Betting – Man United 1/4, Draw 5/1, Astana 12/1).

Wales international James has made a blistering start to his United career after joining for a reported £15million from Swansea during the summer and has netted three goals in his first five appearances.

However, Solskjaer has now confirmed that the 21-year-old picked up a knock during last weekend’s Premier League victory over Leicester and will therefore not be risked during Thursday’s clash with Kazakh champions Astana at Old Trafford.

“Yeah, he got a knock against Leicester so he won’t be available,” Solskjaer confirmed at his pre-match press conference.

Luke Shaw (hamstring), Paul Pogba (ankle) and Anthony Martial (thigh) will also miss Thursday’s match, with Solskjaer expected to rotate his squad.

Jesse Lingard is in line to feature after recovering from illness, while Diogo Dalot is expected to play for the first time this season following a hip problem.

“We still have a few players out,” Solskjaer added. “Jesse is back, which is great. He had a bad time when he was with England but, hopefully, we’ll get him on the pitch to try to kickstart his season again.

“Diogo is back. He’s been training for a little while now but we needed assurances before we threw him in. We probably could have had him on the bench against Leicester last time, but now he’s ready.”

United (1/6 to top group) will be hoping to make a winning start to their Europa League campaign, as they will also face AZ Alkmaar (11/2) and Partizan Belgrade (14/1) in what could prove a tricky Group L.

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