Harry Maguire has suffered a torn hip muscle in another big injury setback for Manchester United.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer recently lost his two leading midfielders, Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba, to injury and now Maguire, his best defender, also faces the prospect of a sustained spell on the sidelines at a time when the United manager already has pressing issues in central defence.

Maguire missed United’s dismal 3-1 defeat to Manchester City in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Old Trafford in Tuesday night, when Phil Jones deputised alongside Victor Lindelof in central defence.

He had pulled up in the first half of United’s goalless draw in the FA Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Solskjaer said United were close to substituting Maguire at half-time but that the England defender - who has a high pain threshold - insisted on playing on and, in turn, appears to have aggravated the problem.

Maguire looked in considerable discomfort as he left Molineux and subsequent scans are believed to have shown that the defender has suffered a muscle tear at the top of his hip. Diogo Dalot, the United right-back, was troubled by a hip problem during pre-season at the start of the season and another defender, Axel Tuanzebe, has also struggled with a hip injury this season.