Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed Eric Bailly would be sidelined for up to five months after the Manchester United defender picked up a serious knee injury in pre-season.
The Ivorian's rotten luck with injuries continued when he was carried off on a stretcher during United's previous pre-season friendly, a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in Shanghai. Solskjaer initially said the problem "didn't look great" after that game, but five days later following a 1-0 win over Kristiansund in Oslo, he confirmed the extent of Bailly's knee injury.
Bailly missed a large chunk of last season with an ankle problem before picking up a knee injury that ruled him out of the summer's Africa Cup of Nations. But Solskjaer said surgery had gone well and is hopeful the 25-year-old will return before the end of the year.
"He's had an operation and he'll miss the best part of four or five months, I would think," said the Norwegian.
"Hopefully we'll get him back around Christmas - it was positive news from the surgeon. He had the operation this morning (Tuesday) and (the surgeon) was positive that it was all repaired and he'll be fine. That's good news."
Phil Jones started alongside Victor Lindelof in United's defence as the Reds capped a rather lacklustre display at Oslo's Ullevaal Stadium with a last gasp Juan Mata penalty - which preserves their 100 per cent record in pre-season - against Solskjaer's hometown team.
They remain interested in Leicester's Harry Maguire as a potential defensive replacement, although Axel Tuanzebe and Marcos Rojo also featured against the Norwegians. MEN Sport understands talks over a deal for Maguire are continuing but the Foxes have so far knocked back United's advances for the England centre-back.
