Man United have played 3 pre-season friendly matches. They lost to Wrexham, won against Rosenborg and Atletico Madrid. In the past 3 matches, Man United have used most of the young players because the starting force is still resting after the 2026 World Cup. However, they will gradually return from this week.
It is expected that 4 players from the first team will be concentrated to supplement at Carrington, including captain Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot (Portugal), Matheus Cunha (Brazil) and Noussair Mazraoui (Maroc). At the recent 2026 World Cup, Portugal and Belgium were both defeated by Spain on the journey to the world championship. These teams were eliminated by Spain in the round of 16 and quarter-finals, so the stars returned to their clubs earlier. Also for that reason, the pair Senne Lammens and Youri Tielemans gathered from last weekend in Carrington and are expected to play from this week.
Among the key players returning, Bruno Fernandes shows that he is the person who pays the most attention to young players in the past 3 friendly matches. In any match of Man United, the Portuguese midfielder posts news on his personal page, taking pictures of watching the match. Last season, Bruno Fernandes played very well, making a great contribution to helping the "Red Devils" win a Champions League ticket. He is the best star of Old Trafford, so fans really hope Bruno will return soon.
This week, Man United has a very noteworthy friendly match with PSG, the reigning Champions League champion for 2 consecutive seasons. After this match, a series of remaining key players are expected to be fully focused such as Kobbie Mainoo or Lisandro Martinez. A former key player like Marcus Rashford has also returned when he has not found a new destination.
Among these, Rashford and Martinez are more physically exhausted because they both played until the last day of the World Cup. Rashford and the England team beat France in the third-place match. Meanwhile, Martinez's Argentina lost to Spain in the final. Although also in the England team, throughout the recent World Cup, Mainoo did not play a single minute and still trained fully. Therefore, the fitness of this young midfielder will be very strong.
Man United will have 3 more friendly matches with PSG, AC Milan and Leeds before starting the first round of the 2026-27 Premier League with a away match against Hull City (August 22nd). In this pre-season friendly, captain Michael Carrick is also targeting some young talents and may give opportunities in the first team, especially the case of Shea Lacey.
Up to this point, Man United has only had 2 notable new signings, Andrey Santos (from Chelsea) and Youri Tielemans (from Aston Villa). Currently, the Old Trafford team still wants to have more new signings but has not yet revealed anything to the British media.
It is expected that until the 2026 summer market closes, the "Red Devils" will have 2-3 more names, before calculating further for the winter market at the beginning of 2027.
