United Discussion | A summary of pre season so far

Two wins and a defeat in our first three matches of pre season...

Let's have a closer look at what's happened so far and what might come next

Author | Lee Francis

United 0 - 1 Wrexham

Our pre-season campaign got under way with a defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki.

Andrey Santos played the first 45 minutes of the game following his recent £50m transfer from Chelsea and made a few decent passes and touches.  We fell behind just before half-time when Sam Smith arrived at the back post to convert Lewis O'Brien's cross. Moments earlier, Smith had rattled the crossbar from a Wrexham corner as United survived an earlier scare.

Rosenborg 0 - 5 United

Our first win of pre season 2026 and a much improved performance

Shea Lacey opened the scoring with our first goal of 2026/27, producing a superb curling finish that gave goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt no chance. Joshua Zirkzee (still being linked with a move back to Serie A) doubled our advantage shortly after half-time, before a host of changes on the hour mark saw a much younger United side take to the pitch.

That did little to slow us down, though, as United added three more goals through Jacob Devaney, Harry Amass and Ethan Williams.

United 2 - 1 Atletico Madrid 

We made it two wins from three pre-season matches with an encouraging comeback victory over Atletico Madrid in the Snapdragon Cup.

The Spanish side made the brighter start and took the lead inside five minutes. Arnau Ortiz found space down the left and whipped a dangerous ball into the box that evaded everyone before sneaking inside the far post.

Bryan Mbeumo got us back on level terms eight minutes into the second half, opening his pre-season account in the process. The forward then completed the turnaround 20 minutes later, arriving in the right place to finish from close range.

What comes next?

This week marked a return to United for a number of Reds, including captain Bruno Fernandes, his compatriot Diogo Dalot, as well as Matheus Cunha and Noussair Mazraoui. Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo are expected to return to training soon.

The squad are now preparing for matches against PSG, Leeds United (boo) and AC Milan. The intensity of those matches will be far higher than what's come before as everyone gets prepared for the first game of the Premier League season against Hull City.