José Mourinho has confirmed Paul Pogba will be out of action for Manchester United for an extended period of time as he recovers from a "long-term" hamstring injury.
The 24-year-old France playmaker limped off 19 minutes into the Reds' Champions League win over Basel and he has missed the past four games at Old Trafford.
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It was initially thought Pogba would be out for between a month and six weeks following the injury on 12 September, as reported by the BBC.
Mourinho repeatedly claimed not to know how bad Pogba's injury was as the club continued to assess him in-house, as well as seeking specialist advice.
"He's injured, he cannot play [against Crystal Palace] and it's not an injury that I can have the hope like I have with Antonio Valencia or Phil Jones," said Mourinho.
The United manager is still unwilling to put a timescale on the injury but 17 days on from the France international's setback he has revealed his concerns over the player's absence.
He then added saying he did not want to speak about long-term injuries but was more hopeful on the fitness of defenders Phil Jones and Antonio Valencia.
"I have the hope to see them in training and to have a positive answer, so long-term injuries I don't speak about them. So Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic] and Pogba and Marcos Rojo, these players I don't think about them," the Portuguese manager was quoted as saying, according to the Guardian.
Pogba, Rojo and Ibrahimovic are joined on the sidelines before the visit of Palace by Michael Carrick, while Jones and Valencia are to be assessed having missed the midweek Champions League match at CSKA Moscow. Marouane Fellaini also missed out with an ankle injury that is still under assessment, while Anthony Martial went off in the 4-1 win.
"We have to train and to make decisions after training but I hope some of the players that couldn't play in Moscow [can play]," Mourinho said. "I hope maybe not all of them but some can recover. What I am saying is that from all the injuries we have, I hope we can have some players available tomorrow."
