RALF RANGNICK says Manchester United have almost a clean bill of health after overcoming their Covid nightmare.
The Red Devils were forced to cancel matches against Brighton and Brentford last week due to an outbreak in the first team squad.
The situation got so bad that they shut down their Carrington training ground last Thursday and kept it closed for four days.
However the players drifted back on Tuesday and the interim boss says they are in good shape ahead of their trip to Newcastle on December 27.
Rangnick said: “As you know, last week we had our last training session on Thursday with just eight players and three goalkeepers.
“Then we closed for four days to break the chain. We returned on Tuesday and today is the third day of training.
“We have 25 players – apart from Paul Pogba, everyone else is on board. So the development in last week was extremely positive.”
Rangnick will give his players the day off on Christmas Day before calling them back in for a session on Boxing Day.
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He added: “We will train on Friday and there will be a day off on Christmas Day and then we have the last training session on Sunday and fly to Newcastle Sunday evening.
“As far as I could see today in training, they’re all in good shape.
“They did their homework, had their schedule to train at home and they stuck to that schedule and that programme.
“I can say most of them, if not all of them, might be available – but I have to make some difficult decisions over who will be in the squad and the starting XI.”
Rangnick went on to confirm that a ‘high number’ of United stars were vaccinated.
The boss claimed: “We have most of players vaccinated, a high number here.
“But the past two weeks show if you have been vaccinated you can still catch it but you are being protected from severe symptoms.
“Those who caught Covid here didn’t suffer and had very weak symptoms.”
Two Boxing Day games – Liverpool vs Leeds and Wolves vs Watford – have already been postponed due to Covid outbreaks.
But Everton had their request to push back their game against Burnley rejected by the Premier League, much to Rafa Benitez’s frustration.
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