Manchester Evening News: At Least Five Manchester United Players Set to Miss Champions League Opener, Luke Shaw and Mount Doubtful

According to the Manchester Evening News, at least five Manchester United players will miss the Champions League match against Shabab Baku, while Luke Shaw and Mount's availability remains uncertain.

This will be Carrick's first Champions League match as Manchester United's permanent head coach. Five years ago, he led United to a 2-0 victory over Villarreal in Spain, helping the team reach the Champions League round of 16. Now, the Manchester United side under Carrick faces a completely different situation.

Carrick must lead Manchester United to victory against the Azerbaijani side with at least five players unavailable. The United manager discussed the team's injury situation at the pre-match press conference.

Among the long-term absentees, Ugarte suffered a serious knee injury during the World Cup period and will not be able to represent Manchester United until at least next spring. De Ligt is also unavailable, but Carrick provided an update on the Dutch defender's recovery.

Carrick said: "We are still managing his situation. He has trained well and has been working hard, but we need to be careful in the final stage. His recovery is going very well, and it is great to see him returning. Hopefully he will be back very soon."

In addition, Heaton and Amad are expected to remain unavailable due to their respective muscle injuries. There is still significant uncertainty over when the two players will return.

Baleba is also expected to continue missing matches due to injury. He suffered an ankle injury during pre-season before joining Manchester United from Brighton for £70 million. As for Luke Shaw, his situation remains doubtful.

Luke Shaw did not take part in training this morning (local time), but this was because he was given an extra recovery day. Carrick also suggested that the decision on whether to play him may not be made until the final moment, with Manchester United set to face Manchester City in the derby this weekend.

Speaking about Luke Shaw's absence from training, the Manchester United manager said: "We just gave him some extra recovery time, and we will assess him tomorrow. This is not an ongoing issue, nor is it a fixed arrangement. As always, we will manage each player according to their individual situation."

Another Manchester United player who has struggled with injuries for a long time is Mount. He was named among the substitutes in Manchester United's 2-2 away draw with Everton but ultimately did not play.

Whether Mount will get the chance to feature against Shabab Baku remains to be seen. It can be expected that, as long as he does not suffer a new injury before the match begins, he should at least be included in the squad.