Ryan Giggs feels there is a “massive plus” at Manchester United despite the club losing some of their key players to the African Cup of Nations in December.

Unitedplayed their last game with Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo in the squad for a while, in the 4-4 draw with Bournemouth on Monday. Noussair Mazraoui was not even able to play that, with Morocco not allowing the Red Devils to pick him in the squad.

The aforementioned trio have left for AFCON, with the earliest date they are likely to return the beginning of January, as the group stages end on the final day of December.

Mbeumo has been one of United’s very best players this term, and the other absent players have also been of use.

As such, the seventh-placed Premier League club will be somewhat worried about their fixtures without the trio, given there are a couple of tough tasks in their next two games: Aston Villa and Newcastle.

United legend Giggs feels there’s cause for optimism despite losing three top players, though.

He told the Manchester Evening News:?“With Mazraoui, we’ve probably got cover as long as [Matthijs] de Ligt and [Harry] Maguire come back. [Lisandro] Martinez has come back to bolster that defence, which is good timing.

“[Benjamin] Sesko is now back, which helps. But it’s definitely going to be a blow because Mbeumo has probably been the best player so far this season and looks like a real threat. Plays every game, has power, scores goals, and Amad can make things happen. So yeah, it’s going to be tough.

“But with Sesko coming back, [Matheus] Cunha could drop back into where Mbeumo was playing. Amad will be difficult to replace, and I don’t know how we’re going to do it, whether we are going to change shape.

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“I’m not too sure. But those two lads [Mbeumo and Amad] are definitely going to be missed. And I think United fans are just hoping that their countries don’t go through the group stage, and we don’t miss them for too long.

“The plus side is that Mason Mount has come back into the team. And that’s a massive plus. You never know how good a player is until they’re playing regularly.

“And now we’re starting to see the Mason Mount that we’ve seen at Chelsea for a number of years. He’s a good, clever player. All the coaches like him. When you’re a manager, you want players you can trust, and he looks like someone you can really trust.”

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