Bennett: Tour has been a great experience

Among those welcome takeaways is the exposure to senior football for a whole host of young Reds, and defender Rhys Bennett is just one of those to benefit.

The 20-year-old replaced Victor Lindelof after the interval in Saturday night's meeting with the Merseysiders in South Carolina, having already appeared against Arsenal, Rangers and Rosenborg during this pre-season period.

Although United target a win in every game, picking up senior minutes and the personal development that comes with that for players like Bennett is a key function of these tours.

Speaking to MUTV following the defeat to Arne Slot's side, Bennett said: "First of all, it's minutes in the legs and a great experience for me personally and the rest of the young players."

Although the 3-0 scoreline suggests a difficult outing, United managed to fashion a number of quality opportunities and looked strong throughout the encounter.

"It's one of those things, with it being pre-season," the centre-back admitted. "Obviously you want to win every game that you go into. I think we were unlucky.

"We had some good spells in the first half, and the second half also, but it's unfortunate that we didn't get the result we wanted."

The centre-back is not willing to let the result cloud everything he has gained from the tour, where he has tirelessly given his all to squeeze as much as possible out of the experience.

He continued: "I've enjoyed it. I've taken everything as it comes. I've worked hard in training, got a lot out of it, and obviously it's a bonus when you can play in games like that with world-class players around you.

"Playing next to world-class players, playing against world-class players; it's something that I'll keep taking with me on my journey."

The young defender closed out the half with the likes of Andre Onana behind him inbetween the sticks and Casemiro ahead of him in midfield, two players that have been competing at the very top level of the game for several years. Being surrounded by such experience can only be a positive for young player as eager to learn as Bennett is.

But regardless of how formative an experience his first pre-season tour with the Reds may prove to be, the Denton-born defender only has eyes for what's to come next and can't wait to get back across the pond to continue the hard work in his native Manchester.

"Of course, there's no place like home," he said. "I'll work hard just the same as I did here.

"And obviously the next focus is the Community Shield for a lot of the lads, so we'll work hard when we next get back to training."