There is a chance that the midfielders Erik ten Hag picks in his starting XI at Wembley for the Community Shield will not have played a single minute’s worth of pre-season football.
The United manager announced his 29-man travelling squad for the pre-season tour of the United States on Wednesday and, as expected, it did not feature Kobbie Mainoo or Bruno Fernandes.
The duo represented England and Portugal, respectively, at the European Championship and are entitled to three weeks off. England reached the final on July 14 and Portugal bowed out of the competition at the quarter-final stage on July 5.
It means the earliest that United’s fans can expect to catch a glimpse of the midfield duo will be against Manchester City six days before the start of the Premier League season.
