Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim confirmed that forward Matheus Cunha (26) missed the Everton match after a training “knock,” and while stating “it’s nothing serious,” he started Joshua Zirkzee in his place, citing that Zirkzee “has more or less the same qualities as Matheus in that position.”
Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha was ruled out of the club’s Monday match against Everton at Old Trafford after sustaining an injury in training late last week, according to a report from NBC Sports.
Manager Ruben Amorim confirmed the Brazilian’s absence, stating that it was a knock, although some rumors suggested a head injury. Joshua Zirkzee started in Cunha’s place.
Amorim provided a cautious update on Cunha’s prognosis:
“It was a knock in the training so I don’t know how long he’s going to stay out. I think it’s nothing serious but we cannot risk players. We need to show everybody that when you’re not 100 percent we have a different player to cope.”
Cunha, the 26-year-old former Wolves star, has had a stop-start beginning to his time at United, missing the Manchester derby in Week 4 with a hamstring injury.
He has scored just once in 11 matches across all competitions this season and joins Benjamin Sesko as one of the injured forwards on the squad.
When asked about Zirkzee, who replaced Cunha, Amorim explained the positional similarity between the two:
“We have a problem with Ben. We have a problem with Cunha, who was working in that position and if you look at our team I think Josh has more or less the same qualities as Matheus in that position.”
Kickoff for the match was set for 3pm ET on USA.