That time has arrived, and fans will be looking for signs of progress during the tour of America. Matheus Cunha<\/a> and Bryan Mbeumo<\/a> have come in and Marcus Rashford<\/a> has left<\/a> for Barcelona<\/a>, giving the squad a fresh look ahead of the trip.<\/p>\n But Amorim has other issues to deal with and decisions to make while he’s in the U.S. as he plots the first steps toward recovery before the start of the new Premier League campaign against Arsenal<\/a> on Aug. 17.<\/p>\n Saturday: Manchester United vs. West Ham<\/a> (East Rutherford, New Jersey; 7 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n July 30: Manchester United vs. Bournemouth<\/a> (Chicago, 9:30 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n Aug. 3: Manchester United vs. Everton<\/a> (Atlanta, 5:30 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n Goals for the preseason1. Work on scoring more goalsEditor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n It was a problem for United last season, and they’ve tried to solve it by spending more than \u00a3130 million to bring in Cunha and Mbeumo. The relationship between those two and captain Bruno Fernandes<\/a> will be key to Amorim’s team finding the net more regularly next season. It’s an understanding that will start on the training pitches at their base in Chicago.<\/p>\n Preseason began with another blank against Leeds in a 0-0 draw in Stockholm on Saturday. Games against West Ham, Bournemouth and Everton will be crucial in developing the attacking patterns of play Amorim will want to see when the Premier League campaign kicks off.<\/p>\n 2. Find a position for Mbeumo<\/p>\n United believe it’s a significant coup to pry Mbeumo away from Brentford<\/a>. The next job is for Amorim to find a position for him.<\/p>\n The expectation is that he’ll fill one of the No. 10 roles alongside Cunha in the 3-4-3 system, but that means persisting with either Rasmus Hojlund or Joshua Zirkzee<\/a>, who scored seven Premier League goals combined last season, at center forward. Playing Mbeumo up front would allow Amorim to use Fernandes, Mason Mount<\/a> or Kobbie Mainoo<\/a> as one of his No. 10s next to Cunha. If Mbeumo is going to play as a No. 10, it’s difficult to see where Mount and Mainoo fit in.<\/p>\n 2:24<\/p>\n Will Kobbie Mainoo be allowed to leave Man United this summer?<\/p>\n Rob Dawson debates whether Kobbie Mainoo will leave Manchester United.<\/p>\n 3. Handle the distractions<\/p>\n United have chosen to back Amorim in allowing him to leave Alejandro Garnacho<\/a>, Antony<\/a>, Jadon Sancho<\/a> and Tyrell Malacia<\/a> at home, but that doesn’t mean the issue is resolved.<\/p>\n While the four remaining members of the so-called “bomb squad” are still at the club, Amorim will face questions about their futures and how long they’ll remain in exile if transfers don’t materialize. Getting Rashford out the door before the tour starts is a positive, and Amorim could do with a quick resolution with the others — particularly Garnacho. It’s a distraction he doesn’t need.<\/p>\n 4. Make a decision at goalkeeper<\/p>\n It’s a delicate issue. There hasn’t been much noise from within the club that they’re looking to replace Andr\u00e9 Onana<\/a> as the No. 1, but now the Cameroon<\/a> international is injured and set to miss most of preseason. It leaves Altay Bayindir<\/a> and Tom Heaton<\/a> as the senior keepers on tour with the possibility that one will have to start the opening league game against Arsenal if Onana doesn’t recover in time.<\/p>\n Onana has had two up-and-down seasons at Old Trafford and was left out of the trip to Newcastle at the end of last season after making mistakes against Lyon<\/a> in the UEFA Europa League<\/a>. If money can be raised through sales between now and the deadline, it might be a position United look to strengthen.<\/p>\n 5. Take a look at the youngsters<\/p>\n No European competition allows Amorim to carry a smaller squad next season and supplement it with youngsters from the academy. Ayden Heaven<\/a> and Chido Obi<\/a> did enough last season to suggest they should stay with the first team. Beyond that, players such as midfielder S\u00e9kou Kon\u00e9<\/a> could make an impression on tour to warrant a place in the squad. Mainoo was the breakout star on the tour of the U.S. in 2023, and the next summer, he was playing for England<\/a> at Euro 2024.<\/p>\n Despite spending heavily to sign Cunha and Mbeumo, Fernandes is still United’s most important player. The club suffered injuries last summer, and Amorim cannot afford to lose the Portugal<\/a> midfielder for any length of time. He won’t be wrapped in cotton wool because Fernandes isn’t that type of player, but Amorim needs him to come through the summer unscathed.<\/p>\n Three prospects who could break out<\/p>\n Diego Le\u00f3n<\/a>: The left back from Paraguay<\/a> arrived this summer and made a positive impact on his debut against Leeds. He has competition from Patrick Dorgu<\/a> at left wing back, but Amorim has high hopes for the 18-year-old.<\/p>\n Tyler Fredricson<\/a>: The 20-year-old defender did well when he was thrown into the first team in difficult circumstances at the end of last season. Victor Lindel\u00f6f<\/a> and Jonny Evans<\/a> have both gone, so there’s a chance of more minutes next season.<\/p>\n Toby Collyer<\/a>: He’s been in and around the first team for a while, but this could be his breakthrough season. Neither Casemiro<\/a> nor Manuel Ugarte<\/a> offers Amorim much running in midfield. Energy and enthusiasm are qualities Collyer has in bucketloads, and he’s a player Amorim likes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO — Ruben Amorim is facing a crucial summer. The Portuguese coach has endured a difficult start to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-17899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}play<\/p>\n
Bruno Fernandes remains the focal point on a Manchester United squad with new arrivals in attack.\u00a0Catherine Ivill – AMA\/Getty ImagesStar player to watchBruno Fernandes<\/p>\n