Louis van Gaal may persevere with wannabe striker Ashley Young at full-back against Sunderland

What he wouldn't give for a Denis Irwin.

Louis van Gaal is rapidly running out of left full-backs and may be forced to play Ashley Young in defence on Saturday. The loss of Luke Shaw to a horrendous leg break has been compounded by injuries to Marcos Rojo and Paddy McNair, which meant Young had to fill in at the back against Ipswich on Wednesday night. Today Van Gaal suggested he would again have to improvise for this weekend's Premier League fixture. Luckily for the Dutchman, United are playing Sunderland at Old Trafford. Alternatively, the Manchester United manager could switch Matteo Darmian to the left flank and bring Antonio Valencia in on the right, but one thing seems certain, he will not shift the Netherlands' World Cup full-back Daley Blind from his central berth. "No. The left-footed players, Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo, are injured, so I have a problem," he said. "I have changed every player except a left-footed player so Daley Blind has played all the minutes (this season)," he added. "We have to spare players and (Chris) Smalling and (Juan) Mata has played all the minutes, but I cannot spare Blind because all the left-footed players are injured." United's lack of defensive cover should be alleviated by the return of Phil Jones, who missed the first nine games of the season with thrombosis, but Van Gaal thinks the England defender is short of fitness. "I said in advance to Phil about how many minutes he thought he could play... 20, 30? He thought more," he said of Jones' substitute appearance in the 3-0 Capital One Cup win over Ipswich. "It is not so easy to do that, but I asked him after the game if he felt fit and he said he did. He could easily have played more minutes so that's a good signal." It has been an interesting start to the season for Young, who now finds himself standing in at the back, less than a week after offering his services as a stand-in striker.