Carlos Baleba Out for a Number of Weeks With Hamstring Injury, Carrick Confirms

Carlos Baleba will be out for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury, Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick said on Friday. The 22 year old midfielder will miss Sunday's Premier League match against Aston Villa at Old Trafford, and he will not be back over the international break.

Baleba was forced off in the 51st minute of United's 3-2 Champions League win over Roma on Tuesday, November 3, and was replaced by Youri Tielemans. United published an official injury update on Friday afternoon confirming that Baleba faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering the hamstring injury in midweek.

What Carrick said

Carrick gave the clearest timeline so far at his Friday press conference, while stressing that the exact length of the absence is still not known. "Carlos, we don't know exactly, but it'll be a number of weeks," Carrick said. "It's definitely not this week, and it won't be anytime over the international break. It'll be a little bit longer than that."

RotoWire, citing Carrick via BBC Sport reporter Simon Stone, lists an estimated return date of November 28. That date is RotoWire's estimate, not a date given by the club. BritBrief reported that the absence would also rule Baleba out of the league match against Liverpool and the Champions League trip to Lisbon to face Sporting.

A delayed start to his United career

Baleba joined United from Brighton in the summer for a reported fee of 70 million pounds. A pre-season ankle injury delayed his debut until October 10 against Tottenham, and he had made seven appearances this season before the Roma match.

After the Roma game, Carrick said the problem was Baleba's hamstring, that United would have to assess it, and that initially it did not look great. No timeline was given at that stage. Friday's update is the first confirmed timeline the club has offered.

Dorgu could return, others still out

There was better news on Patrick Dorgu. Carrick said Dorgu has trained a little this week and could return to the squad against Aston Villa. Dorgu suffered a hamstring issue on Denmark duty in the last international break and has not played for United since the Fulham match on September 20.

"Patrick has done a little bit of training this week," Carrick said. "We've got to be patient with Patrick. He's had a good period of time now with a couple of hamstrings that we need to manage, but he's slowly getting back with us, so we'll have to see whether he can be involved at the weekend or not."

Manuel Ugarte, Benjamin Sesko, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford are again set to miss out this weekend through injury, and Lisandro Martinez is suspended. United go into the Villa match 17th in the Premier League, with seven points from nine matches, so Baleba's absence removes a starting midfielder from a side already short of points and options.