Paul Pogba has handed Manchester United an injury scare ahead of the derby after missing training yesterday.
The France midfielder worked on his own indoors at Carrington after sustaining what was described as ‘a little injury’, raising concerns that he could be a doubt for the clash at Manchester City tomorrow.
United are already waiting to see if Romelu Lukaku will be fit after the Belgium striker returned to full training yesterday having missed the last two games with a hamstring injury.
Both Lukaku and Pogba have another session to prove their fitness today but manager Jose Mourinho will not want to be without two of his biggest stars for one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the season.
Earlier, Mourinho insisted there were no major injury problems following the midweek win over Juventus after Alexis Sanchez shook off the effects of a dead leg to take part in training.
‘From Juventus, we don’t bring important injuries,’ Mourinho said. ‘We have “touches” but I don’t think any player available for Juventus will be out. We have a chance that Lukaku could be back. He is training with the team this morning.’
United recovered from two goals down to beat City 3-2 at the Etihad in April, and have had comeback wins over Juventus, Newcastle and Bournemouth this season. But Mourinho has told his players to ‘grow up’ and stop conceding first, wary that unbeaten City are unlikely to let their rivals off the hook again.
He said: ‘We are a team that has that collective spirit to fight back, but it’s not always possible. If we keep conceding goals before the opponent, there will be a day where we cannot come back, so we have to grow up in our approach. It’s clear the team are growing up, but we have to grow up in our compactness and start matches well.’
City winger Raheem Sterling has signed a new five-year deal worth up to £300,000 a week.
The 23-year-old, who has scored seven goals this season, has flourished since manager Pep Guardiola joined the club in 2016.
Sportsmail reported last week that he had verbally agreed terms and Sterling said: ‘I’m delighted to sign. My development here has been incredible. You want to try and develop and get better and I felt from the minute I got here it was the right choice. It’s paid off for me and I’m really grateful.’