Manchester United forward Joshua Zirkzee out for season with hamstring injury

By Simon Peach, PA Chief Football Writer

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has confirmed Joshua Zirkzee has suffered a season-ending hamstring injury.

The 23-year-old joined from Serie A side Bologna in July for 42.5million euros (£35.7million) and initially made an underwhelming start to life at Old Trafford.

Zirkzee’s performances have improved significantly since the turn of the year and the United forward scored off the bench in last week’s Europa League quarter-final first leg at Lyon.

However, the Netherlands international will miss Thursday’s return fixture and the remainder of the campaign due to the hamstring issue sustained in Sunday’s 4-1 Premier League loss at Newcastle.

“Joshua is out for the season, so he’s not going to play more this season,” Amorim said. “Let’s prepare him for the next one.

“It’s tough, especially in this moment. I think he’s improving in all aspects of the game, so it’s hard for any player to stop, but this is football and he has to be ready now to recover.”

Zirkzee joins Lisandro Martinez in missing the rest of the season, but Amad Diallo could yet return from ankle ligament damage sustained in February.

Matthijs de Ligt, Ayden Heaven and Toby Collyer remain out as United look to progress from a tie which is locked at 2-2 after the first leg, as does Jonny Evans despite training with the group on the eve of the game.

“Matta is going to return still this season,” Amorim said. “Ayden is out for this game. He had a small issue in the same spot during training, a contact with a team-mate.

“Jonny Evans is returning to the training but is not available for this game and some other players that we have to manage the minutes.

“Amad is not ready for this month but we hope to have Amad still for this season.”