Jadon Sancho was one of the players who was a part of England’s Euro 2020 side so he came to Carrington a bit later than the others.
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Despite spending huge amounts of cash in this transfer window and bringing in two massive signings, Manchester United will likely be without their new boys in their first match of the Premier League against rivals Leeds United. The two big signings are forward Jadon Sancho and defender Raphael Varane. While Sancho was announced as early as before July, the wait goes on for Varane. The club has confirmed, however, that a deal in principle for the defender has been agreed with Real Madrid. Sancho was one of the players who was a part of England’s Euro 2020 side. So he came to Carrington a bit later than the others. Solskjaer confirmed that the winger was also suffering from a bout of fever. This further delayed his first training session by a week. So far, he has completed just one-and-a-half training sessions with his new club.
“He has had one-and-a-half training sessions with us, so he has not trained much,” Solskjaer said. “It may take some time before he gets into top shape. But throughout the season he will be very important to us. He is a player I am sure will give us many happy moments in the years to come,” he added.
Despite the big-name signings, the Manchester United manager has assured that he would not involve players who are yet to be match fit in the fixtures. That includes the likes of Sancho and Varane. “We’ve had a longer pre-season than last year. Last season we had a full group for five days before the Crystal Palace game. So that was a difficult one. Naturally, because we went so far in Europe and played a tournament after,” he had said earlier.
“This summer, at least everyone has had three weeks off. Some have had four, some have had five, we’re still lacking match minutes for a few. But we’re getting there, better prepared than last season. Some started on July 5. Some trained with us for the first time this week. Of course, Jadon Sancho is next week and Raphael hopefully when the medical is sorted. But we have to get them through a fitness regime and programme. We can’t just throw them into a game. The staff are doing great work, the sports science guys are working hard to get everyone up to speed as quickly as possible,” the Manchester United manager added.
United will play their first match of the season against bitter rivals Leeds United at Old Trafford. The last time these two sides met at the Theatre of Dreams, the Red Devils ran riot as they put five past the peacocks. Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa recently signed a new contract to keep him at the club until the end of the 2022-23 season.
Leeds have made a big signing of their own when they brought in defender Junior Firpo from Spanish giants FC Barcelona. The move might be just another way to reduce their massive age bill for the La Liga club, but for Leeds, it seems like a massive signing on paper. It will be quite interesting to see how he fares against the likes of Edinson Cavani, Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes at Old Trafford.
