Manchester United\u2019s build-up to the 2026-27 campaign moved into its first friendly on Saturday, but the opening workout ended in a narrow loss to Wrexham in Finland.<\/p>\n
The decisive moment arrived late in the first half when Sam Smith found space at the far post and finished from close range. United allowed the goal too easily, although the match itself never rose to a high standard. Chances were scarce at both ends, which felt understandable given both teams were only just returning after two months away.<\/p>\n
United looked a little sharper after the break once a younger side took over, bringing more energy and urgency into the contest. One of the notable names on show was Andrey Santos, who has only just arrived from Chelsea in a \u00a350 million ($67 million) move. He travelled with the squad to Finland and made an unofficial debut immediately, lining up in midfield alongside Jack Fletcher and Mason Mount.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian offered a clear sign of what he may bring. Known for safe passing and control, Santos posted 93% passing accuracy during his time on the pitch. He also completed only three passes into the final third from 42 total attempts, suggesting a role built more on stability than adventure for now. That may prove useful for others around him who are expected to create.<\/p>\n
United were missing 15 players for different reasons. World Cup involvement explained much of that, while Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko is still working back to full fitness in Manchester, Karl Darlow has not fully recovered from a procedure at the end of last season, and Matthijs de Light remains sidelined after back surgery in May.<\/p>\n
There were still opportunities for Ayden Heaven, Joshua Zirkzee, Mount and Fletcher to make their case, while Tom Heaton made a rare appearance as third-choice goalkeeper. At this stage, the result is secondary to minutes and rhythm, and the squad will continue to come together ahead of the friendlies in Ireland and Poland on Aug. 12 and 15.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Carrick changed everything at half-time, with all 11 starters withdrawn and a new side made up entirely of recent academy graduates taking the field, led by Tyler Fletcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United began preseason with a narrow loss to Wrexham, but Andrey Santos made an encouraging unofficial debut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}