England Boss Gareth Southgate Provides Update on Phil Jones After Limping Off Against Germany

Gareth Southgate has played down suggestions that Phil Jones' latest injury could see him miss the upcoming festive fixture period for Manchester United.

The Red Devils defender limped off the field in Friday's 0-0 draw with Germany after 25 minutes, and United fans and manager Jose Mourinho collectively held their breath as the club's injury problems seemed to rear their ugly head again.

However, in quotes published by the Manchester Evening News, Southgate explained that Jones' issue was nothing to worry about despite admitting it might be best to send him back to United's Carrington training base to undergo further assessment.

He said: “He seems fine, we’ve checked him out. It’s something he’s been carrying, but he doesn’t seem to be any worse so that’s fine. We’ll see whether Phil stays with us.”

Jones had been handed a start against Germany at Wembley, but he failed to reach the half-hour point and was subsequently substituted off.

His thigh was heavily bandaged during his brief time on the pitch, and United supporters will query why the centre-back was used from the start if he was already carrying a niggle.

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Jones' injury problems are well documented and a number of strains and other injuries have resulted in his time at Old Trafford being stop-start in nature.

Since the 25-year-old completed a £17m from Blackburn Rovers in July 2011, he has suffered 16 different injuries which have restricted Jones to 178 appearances in all competitions for United.

Just under 40 of those have come under Mourinho since the Portuguese boss took charge in July 2016, and Jones had begun to form a blossoming partnership alongside Chris Smalling before his latest muscle problem.

United had been handed an injury boost with the likes of Marcos Rojo, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all making good progress in their respective rehab programmes, but Jones could now find himself back on the treatment table to compound Mourinho's troubles.