Three more names went on the list on Sunday, and two of them belong to Manchester United. Bruno Fernandes, Cody Gakpo and Patrick Dorgu have all had their international weeks cut short, which means three Premier League clubs are now waiting on medical reports they did not ask for.
Fernandes played in Portugal's win over Wales on Thursday and was left out of the squad for Sunday's fixture in Norway. His manager Jorge Jesus explained before the game that the United captain had "played through the pain" against Wales and "wasn't his usual self", adding that he "played with an injury he brought from Manchester United" and "really wanted to play against Wales". That last line is the one Old Trafford will read twice.
Liverpool lose a second forward in four days
Gakpo went off 16 minutes into the Netherlands' 2-1 win in Serbia, grimacing and holding the lower part of his right leg. He had started the season well, with two goals and four assists in six appearances in all competitions, and his withdrawal lands on Liverpool a few days after Alexander Isak was sent home from Sweden duty with a minor thigh injury.
Isak had played the full 90 minutes and scored in Sweden's 2-1 Nations League win over Romania on Friday. He will take no part in Sweden's remaining three matches in this window and will be assessed by Liverpool's medical staff. Neither injury has been given a grade or a return date by the clubs involved, and it is worth saying plainly that nobody has published one.
Dorgu makes it two for United in a single afternoon
Dorgu lasted half an hour before limping out of Denmark's 2-0 win over Wales in Copenhagen. Between him and Fernandes, United have now had their captain withdrawn from one fixture and their left-sided defender withdrawn mid-match on the same day, in a window they cannot influence and a competition they do not play in.
They are not alone. Kai Havertz was caught on the knee by a high boot from Quinten Timber during the Netherlands' draw with Germany on Thursday and had to come off. Brian Brobbey went off in the same game with what looked like a muscle problem, days after scoring a hat-trick in Sunderland's 5-3 defeat by Manchester City. Sunderland then lost Dan Ballard to a hamstring injury late in Northern Ireland's 1-0 win over Georgia on Friday, and Michael O'Neill has confirmed he will miss the rest of the break.
The longer break is doing exactly what clubs feared
It is not only a Premier League problem. Kylian Mbappe will be out for at least two weeks after injuring his knee while scoring the winner in Zinedine Zidane's first game in charge of France, a record-extending 67th international goal set up by Michael Olise. He was limping straight away and was replaced five minutes later. Jamal Musiala pulled a muscle in the warm-up before Germany's game with the Netherlands and withdrew before kick-off.
The first international break of the 2026-27 season runs a week longer than usual, because the traditional October window has been scrapped. Countries are playing four matches instead of two across a three-week block in late September and early October. Clubs warned that stacking the fixtures would show up in the treatment room. Three weeks in, it is showing up in the treatment room.
Injury context: Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) omitted from Portugal's squad in Norway; Cody Gakpo (Liverpool) off after 16 minutes in Serbia; Patrick Dorgu (Manchester United) off after 30 minutes in Copenhagen. Also affected this break: Alexander Isak, Kai Havertz, Brian Brobbey, Dan Ballard, Kylian Mbappe and Jamal Musiala. No club has published a diagnosis or return date for Fernandes, Gakpo or Dorgu.
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