Manchester United summer signing Carlos Baleba is still waiting to make his debut for the club and will have to wait a while longer still.
The Cameroon international was unveiled as a Red Devils player on August 25 after completing a £70 million move from Brighton.
The 22-year-old had been a Manchester United target for some time and they finally landed his signature, completing a midfield revamp which also saw the club bring in Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa,
Santos and Tielemans have now made their debuts, but the Old Trafford faithful are still waiting to see Baleba in action for the first time.
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The former Lille player was dealing with an ankle injury when he signed for Manchester United and that issue is yet to completely clear up.
Baleba is closing in on a return, but it will not be this weekend when Michael Carrick takes his team to play Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
Instead it will be after the upcoming international break, with the Red Devils next in action at home to Tottenham on October 10.
Asked if Baleba will be ready to play in October, Carrick said earlier this week: ‘Yeah, he definitely will be.
‘He’ll be back in and around the group at some point over the next week or so. So that means, after the internationals, he should be in good shape.’
Carrick added: ‘He’s desperate to get out there and be part of the group and training fully with the boys.
‘And I’ve said before, he’s obviously a quality player. It’s why we brought him here and he balances off the dynamics of the midfield particularly well.’
Carrick will be thrilled to have another option available to him next month after a testing start to the season continued with defeat to Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
The Red Devils went 2-0 up in 10 minutes but succumbed to a brilliant comeback from the Seagulls to lose 3-2.
‘Of course we can turn it around,’ he said. ‘We’ve got some really good players.
‘It feels bad at the moment because we haven’t had a great week, or two or three weeks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t win another game of football quickly.
‘The players have shown before what they’re capable of doing, and we have as a group. It doesn’t count for much; it’s always about what happens next. That’s the ultimate challenge. It always has been here and always will be. It’s about dealing with the moments, the ups and the downs. We’ve certainly got to deal with this moment in a good way.’