Manchester United defender Eric Bailly has allayed supporters' fears by confirming he just suffered from muscle fatigue while in action for Ivory Coast.
Bailly was substituted by Odilon Kossounou on 70 minutes of Ivory Coast's 1-1 draw with Belgium in an international friendly on Thursday night, with some outlets reporting that Bailly had been withdrawn due to a hamstring injury.
The 26-year-old has endured his fair share of fitness problems in his career and he appeared to again be struggling. United opted against signing a new centre-back in the summer transfer window, despite their defensive travails in the Premier League so far this season.
But Bailly took to Instagram to reveal the issue was nothing and he ought to be in contention to play for United in their next league game at Newcastle on October 17th.
He said: "Thank you for worrying about me, but I’m doing well. Just fatigue. Goodnight to you all and God protect us. Congratulations to my team for the match against the first ranked team.”
Franck Kessie's late penalty secured a 1-1 draw for Bailly's Ivory Coast against 2018 World Cup semi-finalists Belgium, who had led through Michy Batshuayi's goal early in the second half. Bailly lined up alongside Premier League stars Wilfried Zaha, Serge Aurier and Nicolas Pepe.
Bailly will return to Old Trafford next week looking to keep his spot as Harry Maguire's main centre-back partner, competing with Victor Lindelof. United's other options are homegrown duo Axel Tuanzebe and Teden Mengi, while Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have been frozen out, not selected in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Champions League squad for the coming season.
