According to the Mirror, Manchester United have decided that out-of-favour defender Phil Jones will take an alternative approach to recovering from injury as they look to sell the ace this summer.
The Mirror report that the centre-back has a knee injury, but the Red Devils have cancelled surgery as this would rule Jones out for up to five months and sidelined until the start of next year.
It’s claimed that the 28-year-old will instead recover using a rehabilitation programme, with the defender remaining in Manchester whilst the rest of the squad complete the Europa League campaign.
The Mirror add that the surgery was set to take place on Sunday, it goes without saying that more injury troubles would lead to less interest from clubs in Jones, but this seems like a very controversial decision.
Of course the ace is ultimately contracted to the Red Devils, but it’s Jones that will have to live with this decision – and any long-lasting troubles it causes – and not the club.
The Mirror add that the error-prone defender, who joined the Red Devils 11 years ago, has now missed over 200 games with the club due to injury and fitness issues.
This seems like a very strange choice from the club, with news of the injury now out, it will be interesting to see whether this enough to put teams off anyway.
Jones made just 8 appearances for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side this season, the England international’s played a minimal role for some years now and he’s slipped quite far down the pecking order.