Manchester United issue statement on Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans injuries

Manchester United have confirmed Raphael Varane will be sidelined for "a few weeks" with a muscular injury.

Varane was substituted at half-time in the recent away games against Brentford and Chelsea and sustained the injury in the latter fixture.

The 31-year-old will miss Saturday's trek to Bournemouth, the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City and the Premier League home games against Sheffield United and Burnley. This marks Varane's sixth separate lay-off through injury or illness this season.

Jonny Evans has been ruled out of the Bournemouth game with what has been described as a shorter-term muscle issue. The 36-year-old replaced Varane at Chelsea but then had to be substituted himself.

Centre-backs Varane, Evans, Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof are all unavailable for the remainder of United's April schedule. Willy Kambwala and Harry Maguire are set to continue at centre half against Bournemouth.

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Varane and Evans are both out of contract in June and United have not made a definitive decision on whether to offer either veteran a new deal.

United manager Erik ten Hag is also expected to provide updates on Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford during his pre-match press conference on Friday.

McTominay missed the 2-2 draw with Liverpool through injury and Rashford was forced off in the second half. Neither were visible during Wednesday's training session at Carrington.