Ten Hag confirms internationals return on Saturday
The rest of Manchester United’s squad will report to Carrington for pre-season training this weekend, after the summer break.
Our preparations for next campaign are already under way, with the Reds defeating Leeds United 2-0 in Oslo on Wednesday.
Erik ten Hag played two different XIs in the clash at the Ullevaal Stadion, with a youthful second-half side replacing a more experienced first-half line-up, which included the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane.
Those players did not feature in the international fixtures held in mid-June and those who did were given an extra period of time off, which Ten Hag confirmed will end this weekend.
“I think Saturday,” Erik told MUTV in Norway, when asked when his full quota of players would be back at Carrington.
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Well over a dozen of United’s first-team squad featured for their national sides last month, as Alejandro Garnacho made his senior debut for Argentina and the qualification campaign for Euro 2024 continued.
Anthony Elanga, Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford all scored for their respective teams but have spent the last three weeks enjoying some much-needed rest after a marathon 2022/23 season.
Ten Hag revealed that the bid to recover and recharge may rule out the majority of returnees from next Wednesday’s friendly against Lyon in Edinburgh, prior to the squad flying out to the United States for Tour 2023.
“Those players, most of them will not show up in Edinburgh, as well, because they need time and to have a good training week. They had to have days off and relaxation,” Erik added.
“Those players played most games in the last season, so they needed that rest.
“So then we have to bring them back, but you have to do it carefully and you can't go from 0 to 100.”
One player who did return last week but wasn’t involved out in Norway is Fred, who missed the game as a precaution and because he is managing his workload.
Others, meanwhile, missed the trip altogether to continue their individual training programmes at Carrington.
It was still a positive opening to the summer campaign though, with second-half strikes from Noam Emeran and Joe Hugill giving the Reds victory over our cross-Pennine rivals.
Tickets for Wednesday’s clash at Murrayfield are still available to purchase here. Don’t miss your chance to see whether Ten Hag’s men can continue our winning start to pre-season.