Ten Hag gives update on Evans and Hugill
Erik ten Hag has confirmed that Jonny Evans and Joe Hugill will remain with the Manchester United squad in the United States.
The pair started the Tour 2023 match against Wrexham in San Diego, with Hugill playing 68 minutes and Evans featuring for 74 minutes.
Evans signed a short-term deal to return to his former club after leaving Leicester City at the end of last season.
The Northern Irishman was solid at the back in the second half of the 1-0 victory over Lyon in Edinburgh, in his only other pre-season appearance so far.
Three times Evans showed his class
🎬 Player highlights | Enjoy three instances of Jonny Evans getting stuck in on his first United outing since 2015...
Hugill also caught the eye as a second-half substitute against Leeds United in our first pre-season outing and scored the second goal in our 2-0 victory in Oslo.
Speaking to reporters in his press conference after the Real Madrid match in Houston, the United manager explained why the Reds duo are staying with the first-team group.
“We need the numbers in the coming days in training,” he said. “As you see, Fred is not here and also [Anthony] Elanga went back. We need the numbers for proper training to hit our targets and that’s the reason they are here.”
Evans and Hugill will help to bolster the squad Stateside after winger Elanga completed his move to Nottingham Forest and centre-back Will Fish returned to Scottish Premiership side Hibernian for another loan spell.
The pair will hope to be involved in our next match of Tour 2023, against German giants Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas on Monday (kick-off 02:00 BST). Like all of our senior men’s pre-season games, it will be screened live on MUTV.