Mainoo, alongside centre-back Harry Maguire, was forced off during United's goalless draw with Aston Villa prior to the international break.

The teenager then joined Morgan Gibbs-White and Ezri Konsa in withdrawing from England's squad for their Nations League fixtures against Greece and Finland. 

Ahead of their return to Premier League action against Brentford on Saturday, United issued a comprehensive fitness update, confirming Mainoo had joined Maguire on the sidelines.

While Manuel Ugarte took part in a recovery session after returning from international duty with Uruguay, the club said long-term absentees Mason Mount, Tyrell Malacia and Luke Shaw are making "steady" progress in their recovery.

Noussair Mazraoui, Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo all missed games for their respective national teams during the hiatus, but the trio are back in training.

Mainoo has played all seven of United's Premier League games this season, with the Red Devils earning their fewest points (eight) at this stage of any campaign in the competition.

He has the best pass completion rate (88.3%) of any ever-present United midfielder, with only Bruno Fernandes (261, 49) bettering his 250 completed passes or his 35 successful passes into the final third.

Posting the worst Premier League start in the club's history and being winless in five games across all competitions certainly provides a platform for the external world to scream 'chaos.'

At Carrington, Jonny Evans paints a more serene picture of a team trying to hurdle the negativity, fix their flaws, and perform to their capabilities.

He credits Erik ten Hag for being able to withstand a storm of unrelenting speculation about his job security; a subject which dominated the international break.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, the centre-back offers a window into the dressing room, the defensive changes United have made, and the messaging from the coaching staff during another testing spell…

'The manager shows real strength'

Evans on Ten Hag: "He's a very strong-minded man and you know, I admire him for that. You see that he's very principled in the way he wants to work and the way he is as a person, and he very rarely changes.

"He shows a real sort of strength and who he believes that he is, and who he wants to be. And I admire him for that sort of strength and courage to continue. He's always very positive and his message is always the same and very consistent. It's important - I suppose 'cause that's the job of the coaches is to create that environment and culture within the club that we still keep pushing and improve the results and obviously the league position.

"You can take the positives from the defensive side of the game, we want to add more goals and I suppose from their perspective, always looking at the positive side; where can we improve not sort of letting outside noise sort of influence us.

"Ruud [van Nistelrooy] spoke the other day about the fact that it's a game and getting back there to when you're a kid playing football and going out and competing. I think that's where everyone wants to get to that sort of new place where you're not affected by outside noise, and you can just go out and perform to your best every week. And that's what I suppose every footballer, every single weekend strives for, I think playing with enjoyment and a smile on your face.

"Obviously we've got expectations to win football matches and it's always more enjoyable whenever you win."