It says much about Ashley Young's record since Louis Van Gaal came to the club that news of his need for surgery has been greeted as such a serious blow to United's hopes for the remainder of the season.
Prior to LVG's arrival, he was pretty high on many United supporters' lists of players they'd like to see moved on as quickly as possible - indeed, many had him ahead of Moyes. Not only has he survived a cull that saw the back of so many of his colleagues, he's surprised us all by establishing himself as one of the club's most important players over the last eighteen months, not least for a versatility few of us knew was there.
Not only that, but his willingness to fill in as a makeshift full-back has made him a valuable asset in a United side for which injuries in defensive positions now seem as much an unwanted part of our club's identity as the Glazer loan or crap penalty shoot outs. Now Ashley himself has fallen victim to the curse.
With Shaw, Rojo and Valencia also long-term absentees, inevitably the finger of blame is being pointed at the manager in some quarters for the alleged ferocity of his training methods. This is frankly ridiculous. Hard to imagine how over-training could have played any part in the assault that put Shaw out for the season. Not only that, but injuries in these positions bedevilled us long before Van Gaal came to Old Trafford, right back to the later days of Fergie's reign.
I used to think full backs were perhaps adversely affected by the demands placed on them by United's energetic, high octane style, but that can scarcely be advanced as an explanation these days.
Whatever the reasons, they make the decision to send both Janko and Blackett to Celtic at the start of the season seem even more baffling. Both were ahead of Borthwick-Jackson in development and you can only hope the double-barrelled youngster is as up for the challenge ahead of him as he looked at Anfield.
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