Manchester United almost at full strength following Covid outbreak - Ralf Rangnick

United were forced to close their training ground for four days to break the chain of Covid-19 infection following an outbreak in the squad

Ralf Rangnick says his Manchester United squad is almost at full strength following the recent outbreak of Covid-19 at the club.

After a 16-day break, Rangnick's side face Newcastle on Monday, 27 December, with Paul Pogba the only injury.

"Today was the third day of training this week and we had 25 outfield players," Rangnick said.

"Paul Pogba is the only one missing out, everyone else was on board."

The club were forced to shut the first-team section of their training ground last week following the outbreak, with only eight outfield players available to train.

"We closed the training ground in order to break the chain. The development of the last week is extremely positive. We will train tomorrow and there will be a day off on Christmas Day before we have the last training session on Sunday."

Rangnick said the players returning were in good shape and had "done their homework" while training at home.

"They had their schedule to train at home and they stuck to that schedule and programme," he said.

"I can say most of them, if not all of them, might be available but I'll have to take some difficult decisions on who will be in the squad and the staring XI."

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