Amorim gives Bruno Fernandes injury update on games he will miss for Man Utd

Bruno Fernandes went off at half-time against Aston Villa and now Ruben Amorim admits he will miss "some" games but it won't be "an excuse" for Manchester United.

Fernandes joins fellow midfielder Kobbie Mainoo in the treatment room after he withdrew on the eve of the 2-1 defeat away to Villa.

The Portuguese has a soft tissue injury while Mainoo has a calf problem the forced him out of the squad for the Villa match.

Both midfielders are expected to miss the Boxing Day clash with Newcastle when United will find resources stretched to their limit.

Casemiro will return to the side after serving a suspension against Aston Villa, but the out-of-form Manuel Ugarte is the only other fit senior central midfielder.

Amorim will look for solutions against the Magpies, but insisted he won't use the injuries as an excuse. Lisandro Martinez came on in midfield against Aston Villa and Jack Fletcher made his first-team debut from the bench.

“It’s a soft tissue, I think he’s going to lose some games, I don’t know for sure. Let’s see," Amorim said of Fernandes. “I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about matters you can’t control. He is a guy who is always fit so he might recover quite well.

"I think Kobbie might be out [against Newcastle], Bruno is out, so we will see, we are going to find solutions, no excuses, we need to win the next game and we will try to win the next game."

United are reluctant to make a move for a short-term target in January, and Amorim has confirmed that he wants to stick to the long-term plan and wouldn't be asking director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada for a sticking plaster solution.

They are set to make a move for Antoine Semenyo when the window opens, with the attacker set to leave Bournemouth next month, but a move for a midfielder might have to wait until the summer.

"What we cannot do is to reach January and try to do everything in urgency and make mistakes," said Amorim.

"And then here we go again with a lot of mistakes. I'm not going to get with Jason under Omar and I'm going to say we need a lot of players because we have a plan.

"If we have to suffer, the club comes first. Of course, we are in the moment that we need points, but we need to find solutions and we are going to continue with our plan. Of course, you can feel that in this moment we are going to struggle, but we'll see."