Manchester United welcomed back international players to pre-season training on Saturday, those who were granted a longer holiday after representing their respective countries in June.
Pre-season preparations for Erik ten Hag’s squad were already underway. But it was a primarily young team that the Dutchman put out against Leeds for last week’s 2-0 friendly win in Oslo.
The likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Hannibal Mejbri and Noam Emeran impressed during the game in Norway. France legend Raphael Varane was also there because he has retired from international football, while Lisandro Martinez and Mason Mount didn’t get called up by Argentina or England respectively because of injuries they had each been carrying at the end of last season.
But there were notable absentees throughout the travelling squad, with no Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof or Christian Eriksen to name a few.
After just over a month off from the internationals that finished in the second week of June, most have now reported for duty back at Carrington. However, there were still two absentees on Saturday and they were Eric Bailly and Alex Telles.
Neither player is believed to have a future at Old Trafford, having been pushed down the pecking order and out of favour. Bailly spent last season on loan at Marseille, where at one point he was slapped with a seven-game suspension for a wildly dangerous tackle, with Telles similarly at Sevilla. Both have a considerable number of players in the queue ahead of them for a regular place.
Wednesday’s friendly against Lyon in Edinburgh will likely still feature a number of young players but should equally provide some minutes for more senior stars. The pre-season tour of the United States that begins against Arsenal in New Jersey three days later will step that up.
But it seems unlikely that Baily or Telles, without having reported back to training in the expectation that both will be leaving the club in the near future, will be involved.
What we know
- Man Utd’s international players have now returned to training
- Non-internationals featured in Leeds friendly last week
- Two senior players have not yet returned ahead of expected transfers