Manager Louis van Gaal says Manchester United have only one senior centre-back available for this weekend's English Premier League football game against West Ham.
Marcos Rojo is fit, but Chris Smalling (leg), Phil Jones (hamstring) and Jonny Evans (ankle) are injured and Tyler Blackett is suspended.
Van Gaal says all three of his right-sided centre-halves are out, so he'll have to go to the youth system.
Potential candidates to play include Tom Thorpe, 21, and Paddy McNair, 19.
Neither under-21 captain Thorpe nor McNair, who joined United as a midfielder three years ago, have played for the first team.
Midfielders Daley Blind or Darren Fletcher could be employed as centre-backs by United, who are 12th in the table with only one win from their first five games.
Meanwhile the former Manchester United defender Phil Neville says the club may need to spend another 200 million dollars on players before they can compete for the English Premier League title.
Former Manchester United player Phil Neville. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
United lost 5-3 at Leicester City at the weekend, but Neville says he "wasn't surprised with the result".
New United boss Louis van Gaal spent almost 300 million dollars in the off-season to sign midfielders Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera and Daley Blind plus defenders Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw, while striker Radamel Falcao joined for a 12 million dollar loan fee.
Neville, who was on the coaching staff at Old Trafford last season, says the probably need to spend about the same amount of money again in the next 2 transfer windows to get it right.
He says a central defender and a holding midfielder need to be found.
Neville defended the club's failure to sign an established centre-back in the summer transfer window, and backed United's English defensive contingent to prove their worth.
United are 12th in the Premier League table, having won just one game this season.
They were also eliminated from the League Cup by a shock 4-0 loss at MK Dons.
The Manchester United forward Juan Mata has apologised for his team's English Premier League football meltdown against Leicester that left them 12th in the league after five matches.
United looked set for a comfortable win after moving 3-1 ahead at the King Power stadium, but some abject defending in the final half hour allowed Leicester to record their first home win over the Red Devils in 29 years, eventually running out 5-3 winners.
Manchester United beaten by Leicester City 2014. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Mata says he could not imagine a Sunday like this, and the way back from Leicester to Manchester on the bus seemed really long. He says he keeps thinking about how they lost a game that was under control. It's really tough to score three goals away and come back home with no points.
Former United captain Gary Neville said the team looked "soft-centred" and ex-Holland striker Ruud Gullit criticised manager Louis van Gaal for spending the majority of his transfer budget on the likes of Falcao, Angel di Maria and Ander Herrera when defensive reinforcements were needed more.
Former United coach Rene Meulensteen also expressed his surprise that Van Gaal had not yet handed Luke Shaw his debut.
Van Gaal left Shaw on the bench for the last two games despite a number of injuries in defence.
Manchester United led 2-0 inside 16 minutes with goals from Robin van Persie and Angel di Maria. Leonardo Ulloa pulled one back for Leicester in the 17th minute before Ander Herrara put United 3-1 up after 57 minutes.
But Leicester then replied with four goals from a David Nugent penalty after 62 minutes, an equaliser from Esteban Cambiasso after 64 minutes, the fourth from Vardy after 79 minutes and the fifth from Ulloa with an 83rd minute penalty, United finishing with 10 men after young defender Tyler Blackett was sent off for a last-man foul.
United had beaten Leicester in nine of their last 10 league meetings, and drawn the other, since Leicester last beat United in the league in January 1998.
Stunned United manager Louis van Gaal says he think the spectators saw a fantastic spectacle and they started well and scored fantastic goals, but you have to win the game and they didn't do that, and didn't keep ball possession in the right way.
Van Gaal says they have too many players who want to seek for the goal, while Leicester have already showed against Arsenal and Stoke that they can come back and they did it very well.
Frank Lampard, Chelsea's all-time record scorer, came on as a late substitute for Manchester City and scored their equaliser in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad as the champions ended the leaders' perfect start to the Premier League season.
Lampard, who scored 211 goals for Chelsea and is on loan at City from MLS side New York City, scored in the 85th minute after only six minutes on the pitch.
Andre Schuerrle had put Chelsea ahead in the 71st minute, five minutes after City defender Pablo Zabaleta had been sent off for fouling Diego Costa.
Meanwhile West Bromwich Albion climbed off the bottom of the table with a 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur, their first of the season, while Crystal Palace were the day's other surprise winners, coming from behind to win 3-2 at Everton.
Chelsea still top the table with 13 points from five matches, ahead of Southampton and Aston Villa who are both on 10 points.
