Manchester United are in the United States for the Summer Series as part of their pre-season tour.
The Red Devils will launch their Summer Series campaign against West Ham in the early hours of Sunday morning; however, the pre-season friendlies got under way when Manchester United drew 0-0 against Leeds in Stockholm.
Ruben Amorim will be embracing a season full of pressure after enduring a difficult first six months as United’s head coach.
With obstacles bound to face United when the competitive campaign begins, Amorim has thus far welcomed three players to the first-team, including Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
The two new attacking signings are expected to feature against West Ham in New Jersey this weekend.
Amorim will hope that all of his players are well refreshed from the short summer break, especially following a turbulent campaign. Leny Yoro revealed that he has been working hard with Kobbie Mainoo over the summer to stay in shape to keep his development on track.
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty ImagesRuben Amorim takes time to meet Chicago Fire assistant coach
There won’t be much downtime for United on the pre-season tour between training, friendly matches and commercial duties.
The players are in the United States to prepare for the new season, and Amorim will hope they can commit more time to that than commercial responsibilities. It is a time for the head coach to manage which tactical instructions should be conducted on the pitch.
It allows the players to work within the best facilities and they also carry out plenty of video analysis sessions, although the biggest priority of all is fitness and ensure everyone is ready for the new campaign without any major setbacks.
United experienced setbacks last summer when several players suffered long-term injuries, including Mainoo. A lot of those players suffered throughout the campaign as a result, and United finished 15th in the Premier League. That is why Amorim’s key players must have a full pre-season.
As part of the pre-season tour, United are conducting diaries on ManUtd.com as the media team gets up close and with Amorim, his players and staff.
United trained at Chicago Fire’s training ground on Wednesday as Amorim and his coaches ran through the session with the players. They conducted several passing drills and games of two-touch.
The diary states that Amorim took some time out to catch up with Chicago Fire assistant coach Filipe Celikkaya, whom he schooled with in Lisbon many years ago.
Celikkaya is a 40-year-old Portuguese coach from Lisbon currently working as assistant manager at Chicago Fire.
Although he went to school with Amorim, Celikkaya also worked with Sporting CP’s youth teams while the United head coach was winning titles in Portugal.
Celikkaya previously worked at Benfica, Al-Ahli, Almada, Sporting, Chaves, Vitoria Guimaraes and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Now a respected coach in America, it says a lot that Amorim took some time to spend with Celikkaya. He must think highly of him.
Academy player shocked by pre-season tour
The pre-season diary captures a wonderful quote from one of the United academy players on tour this summer.
Although it cannot be credited to a specific player, due to being unnamed, the United media team quoted him reacting to being in the US for the tour.
The youth player said, “I can’t believe how big it is here.”
Hopefully, some of the youth players shine in America and prove they have what it takes to get an opportunity next season.