The wait is almost over for the start of Manchester United’s Premier League season, with the Reds due to kick off away to Hull City this Saturday lunchtime.
After six sharpening pre-season tests across Europe, the 12:30 BST kick-off at the MKM Stadium gets what promises to be an exciting campaign under way, as Michael Carrick enters his first full term as our head coach.
United are also back in the UEFA Champions League after a successful second half of last season, but all focus at the weekend will
be on getting off to a good start in the domestic top flight.
TEAM NEWS
Matthijs de Ligt and Benjamin Šeško were both in training at Carrington on Tuesday as they work their way back from longer-term issues, although it remains to be seen when they will be available for selection again.
Mason Mount was not involved, after picking up a knock in our pre-season clash with Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month. Tom Heaton also appeared to sustain an issue in that Gothenburg encounter and didn’t feature in United’s subsequent two pre-season friendlies, while fellow goalkeeper and new signing Karl Darlow had been building up his fitness back at Carrington before joining his new team-mates at the training camp in the Republic of Ireland last week.
Fellow summer recruits Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans could be in line to make their competitive debuts for United after getting minutes in pre-season, with Carrick expected to provide more of an update on his squad in his pre-match press conference later this week.
Manuel Ugarte is recovering from successful surgery on the knee-ligament injury he suffered while representing Uruguay at this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
There was a report earlier this week that Carlos Baleba could soon arrive to reinforce the midfield, but that wasn’t finalized at the time of this preview. And he certainly won’t be ready to go for Saturday if the deal is done by then, though Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said that the Cameroonian midfielder is not in the picture for the Seagulls early this season. Baleba is recovering from an ankle injury on top of a potential move to Old Trafford.
Hull City
As for Hull, Joe Gelhardt – who completed a permanent move from Leeds United on Saturday after spending the last year and a half on loan with the Tigers – will miss the start of the season with an ankle problem
Head coach Sergej Jakirovic expects Hidemasa Morita to return from injury after our visit but signalled that full-back Cody Drameh could be back in training before then. Charlie Hughes remains some way from a return due to a groin problem, while former United goalkeeper Jack Butland has had surgery on an arm injury and is set to be sidelined until the end of the year. Darko Gyabi is another long-term absentee who will miss the game.
Jakirovic guided the Tigers back to the Premier League for the first time since 2016/17 in May, as a 95th-minute winner from talisman Oli McBurnie saw them beat Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
McBurnie, formerly a Premier League player with Swansea City and Sheffield United and a guest player of our Under-18s in the Milk Cup, was Hull’s top scorer as Jakirovic enjoyed a successful first season at the helm last time out.
The Tigers have since bolstered their squad with 11 new signings this summer, including Senegal international defender Nobel Mendy for a club-record fee.
Manchester United
It’s the first full season for Carrick and important to start strong. Two newcomers in the first two matches should be six points on paper, but starting on the road is potentially tricky. It’s been a minute since Hull City were in the top flight and the fans will be ready for it, even in the early Saturday window. Whether team is ready for it or not will remain to be seen.
What United has is a nice collection of first teamers who got the blood flowing again in preseason, but several more important players who had just one brief preseason runout after returning from the World Cup summer. Lisandro Martinez, Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes are regulars who may not be 100% match ready yet. Bruno in particular has been vital to United functioning since he arrived in 2020. If he isn’t firing from the start it will be interesting to see how Carrick adapts tactically.
