Kerry Mayodi
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has suggested that new signings Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane will not start in their opening fixture of the new Premier League season against Leeds United.
Solksjaer has said that the two will not be ready to play the friendly against Everton tomorrow, but he is hopeful that they will be ready to be on the bench for the game against Leeds.
The two have not met their teammates yet, even though the new season is set to kick off in one week.
United sources had previously claimed that Sancho was due to report for preseason training on Friday, but now say that he is not due back from holiday till next week.
Meanwhile, Varane has not undergone a medical test at United yet and Solksjaer’s side are aiming to complete the £43 million move from Real Madrid by or on Wednesday.
United assembled a more senior squad for their training camp in St Andrews earlier this week, but their pre-season has been hampered by the inconsistent return dates of their summer international tournament participants and a friendly with Preston that was cancelled due to a batch of lateral flow tests for Covid-19, which produced nine false positives.
The United manager had this to say:
“They (Sancho and Varane) still haven’t trained with us and I need to see how they are,” Solskjaer said. “I can’t see them being available for Everton but hopefully they will be ready to be on the bench [against Leeds].
“We’ve not got everyone back yet and we’re still lacking a few. Every year that there’s a championship it’s difficult. Luke, Harry, Fred – a few – will only have the Everton game to prepare.
“It’s still not perfect because I think teams with fewer players in tournaments do have an advantage early on but we’re as ready as we can be.
“Fred played nine games over the summer and he’s had three weeks away from us and then two weeks to get ready again, so they should be ready.”
