Ben McCarthy: United View

Manchester United won 2-0 on Saturday in their second pre-season match against Rangers, with goals from Amad Diallo and Joe Hugill.

The former stood out with an impressive first half display along with new signing Leny Yoro who made his first appearance in a United shirt since his move from Lille last Tuesday.

Yoro arrived from the Ligue 1 side for an initial £52m (£8m in add-ons) and had only had one training session at Carrington before starting Saturday’s match. The 18-year-old gave an encouraging and solid display, which his manager described as a ‘mature performance’.

There had been strong links for Yoro to join Real Madrid, but the Spanish Champions were unwilling to meet United’s bid and with one-year left on his contract, Florentino Perez was willing to wait a year to get the highly regarded defender on a free transfer. This provided United the opportunity to advance their pursuit and convince Yoro to join Old Trafford this summer instead, tying him down to a 5-year deal.

In theory, United could have also waited a year to try and lure Yoro on a free but would have had much more competition for his signature and with the teenager being rated so greatly, it seemed like a deal the club could afford to leave to chance.

After the game Andre Onana spoke about Yoro saying, “If you have the opportunity to be a Manchester United player that means you have a lot of quality and he already showed me in the first half – We are here to help him, it doesn’t matter what is going on, we are going to take the responsibility.”

Erik ten Hag was full of praise after the game, not only for his team’s performance and result but also the leadership for bringing in two signings before the US tour, allowing him to plan ahead for the season. Along with that he also alluded to Amad Diallo being given a more prominent role in the team for the upcoming campaign.

“We have to see Amad in a different way – he is no longer inexperienced anymore, last season he had bad times with bad injuries but before that he was in the Championship he had a great season and in the end of last season he had a very good time in our first team. Now for this season this has to be the year and it’s great that he starts like this.”

With money tight this summer, United would be wise to utilise Diallo and get the best out of him. The Ivorian produced one of the most memorable moments in United’s season with his last-minute winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup and showed glimpses of his talent when called up to the first team. Diallo signed for United back in 2020 from Atalanta but has yet to make a significant claim in the starting eleven.

Whether or not United will bring in anymore signings before their US tour is unforeseen. There has been links to Manuel Ugarte of PSG and Matthijs de Ligt of Bayern Munich, however nothing has yet to materialise. It should be noted thought, that United have been much more proactive in their transfers this summer and much can change in a short amount of time.

Right now, the Reds will need to sell to buy, making things more difficult for the hierarchy. Although fans have been pleased with business so far with the arrivals of Leny Yoro and Joshua

Zirkzee seen as an exciting change in the way the club operates in the transfer market and hopefully there will be more to come in the next few weeks.