Manchester United injury news: Jonny Evans plays 90 minutes in second reserves outing

Manchester United's defensive injury worries continued to ease as Jonny Evans completed 90 minutes for the Old Trafford Club's U21 side on Monday night.

The Red Devils player, who is recovering from a bad ankle injury sustained during the game against Leicester City in September, was playing in his second reserve fixture after playing an hour against Blackburn Rovers last week.

Louis van Gaal's team have been facing a major crisis in recent months with most of their defenders injured and out of action for a longer duration. The manager has thus struggled in putting a stable back four this season.

Fortunately the defense problems have been easing, but it is far from over as they still have first-team defenders Phil Jones and Luke Shaw sidelined, with the latter being ruled out till the New Year with ankle ligament damage. The former however, should recover from a foot injury and be back in the squad before the Christmas period.

The return of Marcos Rojo ahead of schedule has also been a boost for United and with Evans getting back, the manager will have backup in the centre-back role currently being occupied by the Argentine and Chris Smalling.

The Dutch manager is aware of the problems facing him and has been scouring the market for defensive reinforcements ahead of the January transfer window to ease the injury worries.

They have recently been linked with a whole host of defenders, but the most frequently mentioned names have been Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels and Aston Villa's Ron Vlaar and recent reports suggest that van Gaal has also shown interest in signing Atletico Madrid's Diego Godin.