MARCUS McGuane faces another spell on the sidelines after suffering a new thigh injury.

It is unclear when the Oxford United midfielder sustained the issue, but it is a different part of the same leg he damaged against Bristol Rovers in January.

That injury saw McGuane miss the rest of last season and he only returned to fitness over the summer.

As such, the U’s are treating the latest flare-up with caution and Karl Robinson suggested the 22-year-old could miss the rest of the month.

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United’s head coach said: “Marcus is out for four weeks, we think.

“It’s a different part of the thigh, a little bit higher up.

“We’re just waiting to find out what it is.

“He’s had seven or eight months out of football and we know how much of a talent he is, we’ve just got to make sure over the next few weeks we get the recovery right.

“We’re still trying to figure out when he did it, but all the data will come back.”

McGuane went down early in United’s win over Bristol Rovers on January 23 and a setback in his recovery sidelined him until the summer.

The former Arsenal and Barcelona man had been on loan from Nottingham Forest, before the move became permanent in May.

His pre-season was then disrupted when he was forced to self-isolate following a Covid outbreak in the U’s squad.

McGuane has played four times in 2021/22, two of them starts, and was an unused substitute against Lincoln City last Saturday.

Gavin Whyte is also unavailable for tomorrow’s trip to AFC Wimbledon as he is away with Northern Ireland, but Ryan Williams could return.