Manchester United have left out four first team stars for their trip to Oslo in a surprise squad being sent for pre-season.
The Red Devils kick off their preparation for the new campaign with a game against Leeds United on Wednesday, before they travel to the USA next week to take on Arsenal, Wrexham, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid in a gruelling pre-season campaign.
To that end, they named a 30 man squad to take to Norway, which included newest addition Mason Mount, with the ex-Chelsea man in line to make his debut against now-Championship side Leeds.
However, there were several big ommisions. Firstly, 15 players have not travelled due to being on holiday following international commitments, including the likes of Casemiro, Marcus Rashford and Christian Eriksen.
ℹ️ Our travelling squad for Wednesday’s pre-season opener has been announced. #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 11, 2023
Perhaps more telling, however, were four players spotted at Carrington that were ommitted. None of Dean Henderson, Antony, Anthony Martial or midfielder Donny van De Beek made the trip, despite the quartet being among the few senior players currently back at the club.
Antony is likely to be what Manchester United meant by ‘a number of players are continuing their individual training programmes at Carrington’, with the Brazilian suffering an ankle injury at the end of last season and seemingly not yet fully recovered.
Question marks continue to swirl around Martial, who has a poor injury record and has struggled to find a regular spot in Erik ten Hag’s side as a result. The 27-year-old made just 11 Premier League starts last season and there is a feeling that he could be moved on for the right price and should the club be able to find a replacement.
