Man United’s derby prospects handed a major boost as Ruben Amorim confirms that first-team star is in contention to face City – but confirms another’s fitness remains in doubt

Kobbie Mainoo is in contention to return for the Old Trafford derby on Sunday after two months out of action, Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has confirmed.

However, Matthijs de Ligt is a doubt after picking up a knock in Tuesday’s defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Mainoo has been sidelined since limping out of the FA Cup win over Leicester City at Old Trafford in early February.

But Amorim said: ‘I think Kobbie is returning to training, so we will see and assess him for this game. He cannot play a full game. 

‘I think Matthijs is an issue, he has something in the (Forest) game and we have to assess.’

Mason Mount returned off the bench at Forest after three-and-a-half months out since he was injured in the last Manchester derby at the Etihad in mid-December, but Amorim is cautious about overloading a player whose United career has been plagued by fitness problems.

Kobbie Mainoo (centre) has been out of action since picking up an injury in February

Matthijs de Ligt is a doubt after picking up a knock in Tuesday’s defeat to Nottingham Forest

He added: ‘It is best not to speak about that too much. Let Mason Mount train a lot of times, getting the load in his body and forget about that because the mind sometimes is more important than the body. He can start but we have to manage his minutes still.’

Amorim will resist the temptation to rotate his team ahead of next Thursday’s trip to Lyon in the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League which represents United’s last chance of a trophy this season as well as an opportunity to get back into the Champions League.

‘We are going to focus game by game,’ he said. ‘We have a few to recover from the last game and then a focus on that department will be the next one in the Premier League. 

‘We want to win this game, we want to improve in the league table and especially we want to win games.’