Erik ten Hag will soon take charge of a Manchester United match for the first time.
A 31-man United squad flew out from Manchester Airport bound for Thailand on Friday afternoon for the first leg of their pre-season tour where they will take on Liverpool. The squad that has been taken on tour is even weaker, however, than the one that concluded United's worst-ever Premier League campaign with a defeat to Crystal Palace in May.
The rebuild that was heralded this summer has yet to come to pass, with left-back Tyrell Malacia the only signing so far, while Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata have all departed. Returning loanees Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial and James Garner are back in the fold, but it isn't the revolution many fans have wanted..
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Ten Hag has been dealt a further blow to his travelling party by the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who hasn't made the trip due to a family issue. Whether the Dutchman ever gets to manage Ronaldo in a game remains to be seen after the five-time Ballon d'Or winner made it clear he wants to leave Old Trafford.
As a result, United haven't taken much of an exciting squad on tour, even if several promising youngsters have been given a chance to impress on the trip. Ten Hag's first game in charge will come against fierce rivals Liverpool on Tuesday and, as is the way with friendlies, he will likely name an experimental side.
But he could pick his strongest possible XI to get a good look at his top players instead and if he did then David de Gea would start between the sticks behind a centre-back pairing of Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane. With United's captaincy issue still not settled, it will be interesting to see if Maguire keeps the armband.
At full-back, Diogo Dalot is clearly ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the pecking order after the latter was told he was allowed to leave. Luke Shaw will likely still be the first choice left-back, despite Malacia's arrival.
Van de Beek may be given a lifeline at United thanks to the arrival of his former manager but, having failed to perform on loan at Everton towards the end of last season, he still remains behind Scott McTominay and Fred at the base of midfield. Bruno Fernandes may play slightly further forward in a potentially modified 4-3-3.
Attacking options are now especially sparse, which means one of the underperforming duo of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are currently Ten Hag's best options to lead the line. That would leave Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga to take up position on the flanks in his strongest possible side.
Possible United XI for pre-season game vs Liverpool: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred, Fernandes; Sancho, Rashford, Elanga.
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