Manchester United: Who are youngsters to look out for in pre-season?

Manchester United's senior players have returned to Carrington for the start of pre-season training.

The squad that assembled in front of newly installed head coach Michael Carrick and his coaching team on Thursday only partially resembles the group he will work with before the opening Premier League game of the 2026-27 campaign at Hull City on 22 August.

None of the players selected for the World Cup are back yet.

In addition, Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt is still working on his recovery from back surgery.

Likely new recruits Andrey Santos and Karl Darlow are close to completing their moves from Chelsea and Leeds respectively, while there has been no clarity on Ederson's prospective move from Atalanta.

However, for now, nine senior players have been pictured at Carrington, along with Carrick.

As World Cup players are allowed three weeks' recovery from the point of their exit from the tournament, it means a number of youngsters are likely to get a chance to impress in United's first two pre-season games, against Wrexham in Helsinki on 18 July and Norwegian side Rosenborg in Trondheim on 24 July.

The first pre-season friendly in the last tournament summer, against Rangers, was played a week after Euro 2024 finished - not a day before the World Cup ends as is the case this time around.

Then United boss Erik ten Hag used 13 academy players. A further five travelled, but did not play.

Seven of the 13 are no longer at the club and five have been loaned out at least once. Only Jack Fletcher, who featured as a second-half substitute, has spent the intervening two years exclusively at Old Trafford.

Fletcher is one of only four of those youngsters to play for United's senior team since the Murrayfield trip. Fletcher has made three substitute appearances. Toby Collyer (13 appearances), Harry Amass (seven) and Ethan Wheatley (one) are the others.

Being selected in Finland or Norway is evidently no guarantee of a smooth passage into the first team but, even so, United's young players will be aiming to impress.

Here are a few to keep an eye on.

Gabriel is one of the most talked about players in United's academy, even though he is too young to be a first-year scholar.

Gabriel will not be 16 until October but has already caught the attention of every top club in Europe.

He was Premier League Under-18 Player of the Year and Manchester United's Under-18 Player of the Year even though he was only 14 when the 2025-26 season began.

Gabriel has pace and balance to be devastating from wider positions cutting in, but United's coaching staff felt his smaller frame meant he could have greater effect in the number 10 role last season.

His size, for now, might be the only issue in the transition to senior football. He is expected to play some part in pre-season - after that, the sky is the limit.

Click here to read article