Red Pulse will be a weekly column talking about what is happening in the coming week and what is going on in and around the Old Trafford club. The weeks sees the start of club football again with Manchester United starting their pre-season tour, summer signings are starting to hot up with one arrival already announced and United players still have involvement in the FIFA World Cup. Here are the main points of the week ahead and there will be a recap on the summer signings in this column next week.
Pre‑Season: What Will Be Happening This Week?
United’s players returned to the clubs Carrington Training Complex last week to get ready for pre-season. Michael Carrick will oversee his first pre-season as head coach and he will be seeking to get his squad fit for the rigours of the 2026/27 season which will see United return to UEFA Champions League action. Because of the FIFA World Cup, Carrick will be missing a number of first team players with the pre-season tour consisting of players not called up to international teams and talented youth players from the clubs academy.
United will face Wrexham at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland on Saturday. The match will kick off at 16:00 BST and the match will be broadcast live on the clubs TV channel, MUTV. Carrick will have first team players Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro, Bryan Mbeumo, Mason Mount and Luke Shaw in the squad ahead of the first pre-season match, plus academy graduates such as Harry Amass, Toby Collyer and Radek Vitek. The squad will change in the coming weeks with some players who featured at the FIFA World Cup returning.
United will be giving the players who featured in the World Cup three weeks to recuperate, which means the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Kobbie Mainoo and even Marcus Rashford, if he returns to the club, will not feature in pre-season until at least mid-August. Players who exited the tournament in the last week or so will feature before that, which will start to see how United will prevail at the start of the new season. There will be a preview of the Wrexham match later in the week.
Transfers: A Slow Start to the Transfer Window Resulted in a Busy Monday!
It is a busy summer for United and the clubs transfer business was hotting up last week with Ederson having a medical at the Old Trafford club and a revelation that Chelsea’s Andrey Santos was targeted by the club, prior to the playing having a medical at the Carrington training complex. Ederson’s move then came to a grinding halt with the player leaving the country and rumours circulating that the deal was off.
Earlier this morning, it was reported that Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans was a target for United and within an hour, United had activated the release clause for the player and a move was on the cards for the Belgian, who will need to have a medical with the club before completing the deal. United then announced a deal for Santos with the player completing his move from Chelsea and getting ready for pre-season.
United are still linked to Manu Koné, Carlos Baleba and Alex Scott to boost the strength of the midfield this summer. There is still business to be announced with Karl Darlow and Cristian Orozco still to be announced plus whatever happens in the Tielemans transfer, which will be expected to come to a close now the Belgian has back from the World Cup. United are certainly getting some business done but has it been quick enough? The FIFA World Cup was always going to cause problems for the club, who are always slow anyway!
FIFA World Cup 2026: United Eyes on the Tournament
United had many of their players participating in the FIFA World Cup this summer but the last week has seen the likes of Matheus Cunha of Brazil, who were beaten 2-1 by Norway and Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes of Portugal, who were beaten 1-0 by Spain – both in the Roud of 16. Senne Lammens of Belgium, who were beaten 2-1 by Spain and Noussair Mazraoui of Morocco, who were beaten 2-0 by France – both in the quarter-final stage, have all left the tournament.
United still have Lisandro Martinez of Argentina and both Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford of England, who go head-to-head in the semi-final stage of the tournament at 20:00 BST on Wednesday 15 July 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. France go head-to-head with Spain in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday 14 July 2026 at 20:00 BST. It means that at least one United player will make the final of the FIFA World Cup this year as Lisandro Martinez did in Qatar back in 2022 with Argentina beating France in the tournament that year to win the World Cup.
Mainoo has not yet played a single minute for England in the World Cup under Thomas Tuchel and Rashford has played 175 minutes, playing 19 minutes in the first group stage clash against Croatia with England winning 4-2 and Rashford scoring his only goal of the tournament so far. He played eight minutes against Ghana in the 0-0 draw and 90 minutes in a 2-0 victory over Panama. He then played 60 minutes in the 2-1 victory over DR Congo in the Round of 32, but did not feature in the 3-2 victory over Mexico (round of 16) or 2-1 victory over Norway (quarter-final).
Martinez has featured well for Argentina playing 510 minutes of football. He played 90 minutes in the 3-0 victory over Algeria then another 90 minutes in the 2-0 victory over Austria and was unused in the 3-1 victory over Jordan, which ended the group stage for Argentina as group winners. Martinez then player 120 minutes against Cape Verde, scoring one goal and one assist in the extra time victory. He then played 90 minutes in the 3-2 victory over Egypt before playing 120 minutes in the 3-1 extra time victory over Switzerland.
Editor’s Closing Note
It is set to be a busy week for United, who still have some transfer business to complete this week with other targets to strike deals for. United are clearly getting something sorted this week with a deal for another midfielder not ruled out after Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans. United will then move onto other targets for other areas on the pitch with the left-back position one that could need strengthening at some point in the not too distant future. This is en exciting week for United.
The FIFA World Cup is another excitement for United with three players still in the tournament in Rashford and Mainoo for England and Martinez for Argentina, with both countries going head-to-head on Wednesday evening for a place in the final, where the winners will face either France or Spain in New York/New Jersey on Sunday evening. The third place play off will also feature a minimum of one United player Saturday evening in Miami and hopefully that will be Martinez after England beat Argentina on Wednesday evening.
Then on Saturday, United will take to the field against Wrexham in the first pre-season match of the summer with this match in Helsinki, Finland. United will also face Rosenborg, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Leeds United and AC Milan before the Premier League season starts on the 22 August 2026 with United Hull City away from home on the opening weekend of the season. There is a lot for Carrick and his coaching staff to get sorted before the season starts and much will be done without those who featured in the latter stages of the FIFA World Cup this summer.
Written by Paul
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