The 2022 World Cup is coming to a close and only four teams remain; Argentina, Croatia, France, and Morocco.
Players out on loan included, Manchester United started the competition with 16 players in Qatar but now only two are left. Lisandro Martinez is part of the Argentina side that will face Croatia while his centre-back partner Raphael Varane is on the opposite side of the draw with France.
The players that are returning will be disappointed and it is important that Erik ten Hag makes them feel at ease given they do not have a rest period after the tournament to get over their defeats. But the Dutchman will be happy that he has a number of his squad back with time to spare ahead of a busy second half of the season.
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Players such as Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Fred and Antony will all be returning to Carrington in the next few days. These are players who will all be expected to feature in some capacity in United's first Premier League game back against Wolves on the 27th December.
The 2022/23 season has seen an unprecedented level of fixture congestion because of the World Cup. After the final on December 18th, there are only three days before United are back in action again, facing Burnley in the EFL Cup.
United have not helped themselves when it comes to fixture congestion, however. After failing to top their Europa League group, the team were entered into the playoff round which means that Ten Hag's side face two extra games against Barcelona.
With a number of players returning, Ten Hag will have time to give them some rest but also further train them in his style of football ahead of the season resuming.
This should stand them in good stead as United looks to finish in the top four places and potentially win silverware in Ten Hag's first season and hopefully Martinez and Varane can avoid injury in their final two games in the tournament.
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