Manchester United could be without the services of six defenders for Saturday's Community Shield against Manchester City, with decisions on four players set to be made on Friday.
The Red Devils will definitely be missing Tyrell Malacia, who was absent for the entirety of last season with a serious knee injury and is yet to resume full training with his teammates.
New signing Leny Yoro, meanwhile, suffered a fractured metatarsal against Arsenal last month, and the centre-back will be on the sidelines until the start of November.
Four more defenders could also miss out, with head coach Erik ten Hag revealing that late decisions will need to be made on the fitness of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw.
Maguire missed out against Liverpool in the team's final match of their US Tour as a precaution, while Wan-Bissaka and Lindelof were replaced at the interval.
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Late checks need to be made on Maguire, Lindelof, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw
Shaw is yet to feature during pre-season due to his involvement for England at Euro 2024, and he was absent in the final months of last season due to a muscular problem.
"Harry Maguire missed the game (vs Liverpool), was a precaution but is still a question mark for Saturday. So we have training, we have to see whether he is fit enough or not to be available," Ten Hag told reporters during his press conference on Thursday afternoon.
"Victor [Lindelof] played but also he's a question mark and also Azza [Aaron Wan-Bissaka] and Luke Shaw are both question marks, we have to assess them tomorrow (Friday)."
Jonny Evans was replaced against Liverpool due to illness, but the Northern Ireland international has recovered and is in line to feature in the middle of the defence in the Community Shield, and he could be joined by Lisandro Martinez, who only reported for training on Monday after representing Argentina at the Copa America.
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Martinez is in line to feature against Man City
"We think about Licha to be involved in the game," said Ten Hag after being asked whether the players who have only just reported for training would feature.
"That is individual based, everyone has a different background, we put them on off-season programmes but they have different starts while we were in USA, we will assess them, make a decision whether they start, come from the bench or whether they don't play."
Harry Amass and Diogo Dalot could be in line to play in the full-back positions on Saturday, while the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo might be involved.
There should also be a Man United debut for Joshua Zirkzee, who did not feature during pre-season due to his involvement for the Netherlands at this summer's European Championship.
Zirkzee is currently the team's only senior available centre-forward, as Rasmus Hojlund is out for six weeks due to a hamstring problem which he picked up on the club's US Tour.
Matt Law
