Harry has been our leader, hopefully he'll be ready for Europa final: Solskjaer

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said that he is hopeful of Harry Maguire's return for the finals of the Europa League.

United still have two league games left of the campaign in the Premier League against Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers and then the side will lock horns against Villareal in the finals of Europa League.

"Hopefully we can have good news early, but I will give him as long as it takes because he has shown his importance. We've known it all along but maybe some people open their eyes more when he's not playing," Goal.com quoted Solskjaer as saying.

"I certainly felt I became a very good player when I was injured. People suddenly realised what I could do as a sub or what I was as a player. Harry has been our leader, and our captain ever since he came in he's been more or less ever-present so of course he's a big miss at the moment but, hopefully he'll speed up the recovery and be ready for the final. I'll give him as long as he needs until he says yes or no," he added.

Maguire had suffered an ankle injury but it was confirmed that there was no fracture. He is now racing against time to be fit for the Europa League final clash.

"He's making progress, but we've consciously taken the route of not testing him out too early, too quickly, because we don't want to aggravate something. Harry is very - how do you say? - he wants this so much, so he doesn't want to take any risks either. When I spoke to him this morning, he was quite positive, which is good," said Solskjaer.

"Naturally, the day after it happened we were all down, but we saw early on or decided we have to focus, have to be positive and think that you're going to make it until you have to say 'no'. I've always been an optimist, so we're positive," he added.

Manchester United is currently in the second spot in Premier League standings. Manchester City has already been crowned the Premier League champions for the ongoing 2020-21 season.

( With inputs from ANI )