Marcus Rashford facing up to three months out with double stress fracture in back

Marcus Rashford is facing up to three months on the sidelines with a double stress fracture in his back in an enormous blow to Manchester United’s season.

The news is also a huge worry for Gareth Southgate ahead of this summer’s European Championships with one of his other principal strikers, Harry Kane, also facing a long spell on the sidelines.

Rashford is believed to have gone into the the FA Cup third round replay against Wolves on Wednesday with a single stress fracture and that problem was made worse following a collision with Matt Doherty that forced his substitution just 16 minutes after coming on clutching the lower left side of his back.

Scans subsequently revealed the United and England striker has suffered a double stress fracture in back that will mean two to three months on the sidelines. He is also believed to have a piece of floating bone in his ankle that will require non-intrusive surgery to remove.

Rashford, 22, has a history of back problems and has spoken publicly about his use of a bone healing ultra sound machine called a Melmak. He has been spotted with the device in recent weeks.

Speaking before United’s game against Liverpool on Sunday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not disclose the exact nature of the problem but Rashford’s absence is terrible news for the United manager at a time when he is already without key midfielders, Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba, until the end of next month at least due to injuries. Captain Harry Maguire is also playing with a hip muscle tear.

“He’s got a couple of knocks, jolts against Wolves,” Solskjaer said. “He aggravated his back, has had trouble before, so we have to give him time to recover and rest before we put him back on the pitch. I wouldn’t expect him to be back in the next few weeks. We have a mid season break and I’m not sure we are going to see him before then, no.”

Rashford - who has started every Premier League game for United this season before Liverpool - talked about his longer standing back issues in August. “When I was younger I used to have a lot of problems in my back, so I got used to using this machine,” he said. “I still use it, a bone-healing [ultrasound] machine called Melmak. Put a bit of gel on, then strap it round.”

Southgate will be similarly concerned. He already has Kane sidelined for three months with a ruptured hamstring and is now expected to face Denmark and Italy in England’s March friendlies without Rashford in addition to the Tottenham striker.

With so many key players out, the pressure on United to recruit this month will intensify. They are still hoping to sign the Portugal midfielder, Bruno Fernandes, from Sporting Lisbon but the two clubs remain about £20 million apart in their valuations.