Man United have had a "positive pre-season" - Red Devils look in strong shape for start of 2026-27 campaign

Ahead of Manchester United's pre-season clash with Leeds United on Wednesday night, Sports Mole's Football Editor Matt Law discusses how the Red Devils have fared this summer.

Matt Law, Football Editor: "Good performances, good results"

It started really badly, so it was only ever going to get better. That Wrexham game was really bad, but since then they beat Rosenborg, beat Atletico, and drew with PSG last time out. 

It was a terrible start for Man United in that game. PSG scored very early on through Mbaye. Dro Fernandez, the really talented young player, stuck a lovely cross into the box, and Ayden Heaven couldn't quite get there. 

His leg wasn't quite long enough, and it was a good finish into the back of the net. It was a bit of a sickener for Man United early on, because no one wants to concede early goals, even in pre-season. 

But as with the response against Atletico in the last game, the response against PSG was really good. Mbeumo, who's in really good goal-scoring form pre-season playing as the centre-forward, came up with a leveller, and it was an excellent goal. 

Amad Diallo did brilliant work down the right to hustle and harry the full-back, take the ball off him, and put it in the box. 

It was a really clever finish from Mbeumo, who looks like he's going to start the season as the center forward considering Sesko's absence. Sesko is back with the squad now but hasn't played since missing the end of last season. It looks like that's going to be the case early on. 

It has been a positive pre-season, and when Mason Mount went off injured in the early stages of that PSG game, it looked like trouble again, because Mount has been really good. 

But the latest reports are that it was precautionary; he had a bit of a kick to the foot, and they just didn't want to take any extra risks. So it's been a really positive pre-season. 

You want good performances, good results and no injuries in pre-season. Tom Heaton seemed to pull his hamstring, but he's 40 years old now, and that allowed Dermot Mee to come in between the sticks. 

Players are back now; I think it's only Ugarte who's not with the squad at the moment. De Ligt has travelled to Ireland, though he's not playing for a while as he's rehabilitating his back after his back operation. 

He's been brought in for team-bonding purposes, which I like to see. So only Ugarte is not with the squad out of the first-team members.