Mike Phelan has revealed Phil Jones works hardest in Manchester United's gym.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are preparing for the new campaign in pre-season training and among those players at Carrington is Jones, who has been at United for over 10 years but last kicked a ball for the Reds against Tranmere in the FA Cup in January 2020.
That is mostly by design. Jones was rumoured to be in Solskjaer's 'leaked' starting XI that surfaced before United's final league clash against Wolves, for example, but the Norweigan used Axel Tuanzebe and Eric Bailly in central defence instead.
However, Jones has been unfortunate with injuries over the last few years, most recently being sidelined with a serious knee concern, and United's assistant manager Phelan said he's the hardest worker in the gym, which might surprise some supporters.
“They all go in the gym now, it’s part of their training programme. Some love it, some hate it," Phelan told Sensible Soccer. "But I think in the gym, right now, the people in the gym the most are usually the injured ones. That is a real thing they have to do in order to recover. For us right now, credit to him as well, Phil Jones has been in that recovery phase quite a lot.
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"He’s worked extremely hard and it’s mindblowing at times because you’re doing it on your own, so credit to him. Phil Jones has been terrific in the gym.”
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