Ruben Amorim will lose three key Manchester United stars over the busy Christmas period due to the Africa Cup of Nations – as well as one prospective new signing – after next season’s official fixture list was released by the Premier league.
The Red Devils kick off the 2025/26 campaign by hosting Arsenal at Old Trafford on the opening weekend. This is then followed by grudge matches against Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool in the next seven games – a brutal start to life for Amorim in his second season.
But the Portuguese coach’s side may face an equally treacherous winter, despite being handed a favourable selection of fixtures over the Christmas period.
This year’s AFCON will take place from December 21 until January 18 after being pushed back from this summer to accommodate the Club World Cup.
During this period, United play:
20 Dec: Aston Villa (A)
27 Dec: Newcastle United (H)
30 Dec: Wolverhampton Wanderers (H)
3 Jan: Leeds United (A)
7 Jan: Burnley (A)
17 Jan: Manchester City (H)
Andre Onana (Cameroon), Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco) and Amad (Ivory Coast) are all expected to play prominent roles for their respective nations during AFCON.
And while the matches in January, including the derby against Manchester City, will only be missed if all three players progress with the country to the latter stages of the tournament, it is almost guaranteed they will miss the fixtures in December, according to Manchester World.
“The final group stage matches finish on 31 December, which means United are almost certain to be without all of their African contingent for those three Premier League clashes at the very least.
The third round of the FA Cup will also take place on the weekend of January 10, meaning United could also face their best chance of a trophy this season without their key men.
This problem may be exacerbated, however, by the arrival of Bryan Mbeumo with Old Trafford executives locked in negotiations with Brentford for the forward. A deal is reported to be drawing closer and closer to completion after Tottenham Hotspur bowed out of the race due to the 25-year-old prioritising United.
Mbeumo represents Cameroon along with Onana, meaning a key target for the club this summer will not be available for selection by Amorim during the winter if he is signed. And this could realistically deprive United of their first-choice right-hand side for this period of the season.
Mazraoui has been most-often deployed by Amorim as a RCB in his 3-4-2-1 system. Mbeumo is being targeted for the right-sided no.10 role which will push Amad into the right wing-back role, even if the 22-year-old Ivorian may also play further forward at times.
But once December 21 hits, this entire right-side will depart Manchester, along with the first-choice goalkeeper, to fly to Morocco, leaving Amorim with a selection headache for a key run of fixtures.
Feature image Michael Regan via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
