Soccer-Injured Maguire doubtful for Europa League final, says Solskjaer

(Reuters) -Manchester United's Harry Maguire could miss the Europa League final against Villarreal on May 26 as the centre back has not yet fully recovered from his ankle ligament injury, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Friday.

England international Maguire, who had been ever-present in United's defence and started 34 Premier League games this season, suffered the problem in the 3-1 victory at Aston Villa earlier this month.

"He's walking, but it's a long way from walking to running," Solskjaer told reporters ahead of Sunday's final Premier League game at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"To be honest, I don't think we'll see him in Gdansk no, but I will give him until Tuesday night, last training session to see if he can be out there. Ligaments take time to heal.

"He is a leader, before the fans came in, I think you all heard him from the stands. He'll come to Gdansk, he'll be in the dressing room and he'll make sure everyone's ready for the final."

Solskjaer also confirmed Anthony Martial's season is over with the injured forward unavailable for the final but added the midfield duo of Scott McTominay and Fred "should be okay" for the trip.

United have already qualified for the Champions League after guaranteeing a second-placed finish behind champions Manchester City and Solskjaer said they are planning to strengthen the side when the summer transfer window opens.

"We're not where we aimed to be but we've got ambitions to move up one place," Solskjaer said.

"We're looking at the squad and I hope we're going to strengthen with two or three players. We definitely need to challenge higher up in the table. We're still too far behind to think it's just going to come by itself.

"We've had a few players on loan that might come back in. There is interest in a few others going out. You want to come out of the transfer window strengthened. It's difficult to say, I can't see too many outgoings."

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;Editing by Christian Radnedge)