Varane, who was announced in front of the fans at Old Trafford last weekend, could be in line for his debut, while Cavani could also play some part at St Mary’s.
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Manchester United will be looking to build on the momentum gained from its impressive 5-1 opening weekend victory against Leeds United in the Premier League. With United set to play its first away match of the new season at Southampton, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided an update on his plans for Sunday’s clash. Fans will be eager to see new signing Raphael Varane in action, while another big-name arrival Jadon Sancho will also be pushing for a maiden start. He had made a second-half appearance in last weekend’s win over Leeds. Besides, Uruguayan centre-forward Edinson Cavani is also in contention for a first appearance of the season at St Mary’s. However, forward Marcus Rashford and left-back Alex Telles are still absent through injury.
“Of course, as you say, a great start. First game of the season when you get off to a good start with the fans, it changes the mood, or it sets the mood. Our job now is to capitalise on it, get more energy, don’t get complacent. With regard to team news, that’s a boost as well, Edinson’s joined in, Raphael’s joining in – so we’re getting fitter and fitter,” said Ole at his pre-match press conference.
When asked whether there will be a starting place for Raphael Varane or Jadon Sancho at St Mary’s, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replied, “You’ll see on Sunday. They’ve worked well. They’ve had minutes. We’ve had a very good week ourselves. We’ll see who’s making the flight down to Southampton on Saturday.”
Amad and Eric Bailly have returned to training this week after their time at the Olympics, while Jesse Lingard is fit and ready to play some part. He has recovered from his COVID-19 diagnosis and also scored during the 3-1 friendly win over Burnley this mid-week. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson is also back training at Carrington after contracting the virus.
“With regards to Dean, he was tired after trainings. He felt that. We needed to check him up. Now he feels much better. He’s passed all the tests that we’ve gone through with him. He’s training and building himself up again because he’s lost a few weeks. He’s working hard in the gym, working out on the grass. He’s not with full team training yet but it won’t be too long,” he added.
As far as Southampton are concerned, the home side received a welcome boost before the weekend with English midfielder James Ward-Prowse committing his future to the club. Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl does not appear to have a lot of injury concerns, aside from midfielder Will Smallbone and Sam McQueen, who is still battling to get back into action after a long lay-off.
When asked whether Amad and James Garner will head out on loan, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replied, “I would definitely think Jimmy will go on loan. That’s more or less done. He’s done really well in pre-season, and he’s really impressed me, and I think for his career, another season, or another six months now to start with, playing regularly in the Championship will help him.”
“With Amad, I have to say he’s doing really, really well in training. He’s come back a little bit later after the Olympics, we needed some time to get him back in and now he’s looking really good. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed as well. It has to be the right loan, right move, right club, right way of playing for any of our youngsters, really, that want to go.”
