Why Manchester United summer signings are not involved in pre-season friendly today

Open menu

OneFootball's home page

Settings

Evening Standard

18 July 2026

Red Devils begin new campaign in Helsinki against popular opponents

Manchester United

take on

Wrexham

in their first pre-season game of the new season today.

The Red Devils face the Championship side in a high-profile friendly in Helsinki, Finland.

The former midfielder led his old employers to a Champions League finish - third in the Premier League and a return to Europe’s top table for the first time since 2023 - having taken over the reins from Ruben Amorim in January this year.

Carrick has since been backed in the transfer market, with United moving quickly to sign the likes of

Andrey Santos

, Karl Darlow and

Youri Tielemans

in what is promising to be an actie transfer window as they look to strengthen and rebuild, namely in midfield.

New signing: Andrey Santos

Getty

Fans are growing excited at the prospect of seeing some of the new arrivals in action this afternoon, but it may only be Santos, the former Chelsea man, who takes to the field and is given a first run-out in United colours.

That is due to Darlow undergoing a minor operation that has not seen the new back-up goalkeeper travel to Scandinavia with his team-mates, and Tielemans has been afforded time off after his World Cup campaign with Belgium.

The midfielder, who captained the Red Devils in North America, saw his country get to the quarter-finals before they were knocked out by Spain.

Tielemans joined United in a £35million deal from Aston Villa

earlier this week, but was forced to withdraw from Belgium’s starting lineup against the European champions after suffering a hamstring strain in the pre-match warm-up.

Benjamin Sesko

will also not partake against the Championship opposition this afternoon, with the Slovenian struggling with a shin problem that curtailed his end to last season.

The issue flared against Liverpool in early May, and saw the striker miss the last three games of the campaign. He has also not travelled to Finland, but United insist that he and Darlow will be fighting fit for the start of the new league season.

Manchester United XI vs Wrexham: Starting lineup, confirmed team news, injury latest for friendly today

Confirmed Man United XI vs Wrexham: Andrey Santos starts

The Peoples Person

Manchester United v Wrexham LIVE: New signing Andrey Santos in squad for first pre-season friendly

The Independent

Manchester United vs Wrexham LIVE: Pre-season friendly match stream, confirmed team news, lineups and fan reaction

Why Benjamin Sesko is not playing for Manchester United in Wrexham pre-season friendly today

Predicting which clubs the summer's biggest free agents will sign for

There are still some massive names who are set to become free agents in the summer, with some high-profile deals due to expire at the end of next month.As speculation...

Tottenham: Why James Maddison was not awarded a penalty against Leeds as Premier League issue statement

Spurs midfielder denied a big moment on his return from injuryThe Premier League has explained why Tottenham were not awarded a penalty in their draw against Leeds.As the clock ticked...

Bento's howler delays CR7's first title in Saudi Arabia 😱

An ugly mistake by Brazilian goalkeeper Bento prevented Al-Nassr from winning the Saudi League title this Tuesday.Cristiano Ronaldo’s team was leading 1-0 until the 53rd minute of the second half,...