Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has revealed he could be without Antonio Valencia for the Manchester derby on Saturday.
Valencia is currently on international duty with Ecuador and isn’t due to return to Manchester until 24 hours before United face off against Manchester City.
The 31-year-old has been in sensational form since Mourinho arrived in the summer and his absence would be a real blow to their chances of beating their neighbourhood rivals.
“Some are coming back on the Monday before the Manchester City match but some are coming back on Friday,” The Guardian quote Mourinho as saying.
“The day before Man City, we will still have Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia arriving.
“It will be a complicated process but we know it is like this when we have these players. And I would love all the players to go because it would mean that everybody is being selected fro their national teams.”
Only Paul Pogba (10) has completed more dribbles in the Premier League of United players than Valencia (7), while the right-back has also completed the most crosses for the club (5).
For more stats on Antonio Valencia, click here to visit his WhoScored player page