Eric Bailly: Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho says defender could miss next three months

Eric Bailly was the first player to sign for Manchester United after Jose Mourinho took over as manager

Manchester United defender Eric Bailly could be out for up to three months and needs surgery on an ankle injury, says manager Jose Mourinho.

The 23-year-old centre-back has not played for his club since the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea on 5 November.

Bailly suffered the injury whilst he was on international duty with the Ivory Coast.

Mourinho said: "Eric is going for surgery. He won't be out for the season but it will be two or three months."

Mourinho started Chris Smalling and Phil Jones for Wednesday's 1-0 win over Bournemouth, and, following that win, the Portuguese boss said he was happy with his options at centre-back.

"During the whole season, we've had problems with central defenders but because the number is four or five, we manage always to have [players available] and Chris Smalling is playing amazingly well for seven or eight matches in a row maybe, so we are fine."

Bailly was the first player to sign for United after Mourinho took over as manager, joining from Villarreal in the summer of 2016 for £30m.