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All attention for the players at United are set on the pre-season training and friendlies lined up to get ready for the 2024/25 Premier League and Europa League campaigns.
Whilst a number of players are off on international duty with the European Championships entering the final set matches of the group stages and the Copa America in their first round of games, those still at Carrington are resting up, prepping themselves to feature in Erik ten Hag’s plans for pre-season, plans which now will not doubt be reshaping thanks to a new development with Scott McTominay.
Having graduated from the United academy in 2017, joining the senior squad at the age of 21, McTominay really started making his name in the squad two years late, finding his feet as a key player in the 2019/22 season.
Since joining the main squad, the midfielder has played a total of 252 games for the Red Devils, scoring 29 goals and grabbing eight assists, ultimately getting him noticed and called up to the Scottish national team, whereby he’s been awarded 52 caps, even making it into the Euro 2024 squad. His inclusion in the Euro squad was sure to be influenced by the midfielder’s 10 goals last season which has been his highest scoring campaign in his career so far.
Unfortunately, the Scots have not had the best Euros this year, suffering a 5-1 defeated to Germany where their entry on the scoresheet was thanks to an Antonio Rudiger own goal, a 1-0 loss to Hungary at the hands of Kevin Csoboth and then a 1-1 draw to Switzerland. McTominay was Scotland’s main man against Switzerland, being the one to put Scotland ahead before a world class goal from Xherdan Shaqiri drew the Swiss level, giving Scotland their only point of the tournament.
With this disappointing run of results, Scotland have become the second team to be knocked out of the tournament after Poland. However, the disappointment for Scotland is a massive boost for Erik ten Hag.
Now that McTominay’s international duties are over, it’s expected that the midfielder will be back to feature in United’s pre-season tour of the USA at the end of July.
Fifpro, the international players’ union, recommend a rest period of three weeks from football over the summer, with two weeks for pre-season training. With this in mind, McTominay should be set to be back in ready for United’s first game in the States against Arsenal on 27th July at SoFi Stadium, home to the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams.
The United squad are set to return for pre-season training on the 8th July, with a strong squad set to be used by ten Hag in the States despite the ten players still on international duty with Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Christian Eriksen, Rasmus Hojlund and Altay Bayindir still at the Euros, with Dalot and Fernandes set to stay longer with Portugal already through to the last 16. Over in the States, Lisandro Martinez, Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Pellistri are representing their nations in the Copa America, with the tournament only just getting underway.
With the finals for both tournaments taking place on 14th July, any of the successful teams that make it to the finals will be set to return to club duty on 5th August, giving them five days before United’s Community Shield match up vs Manchester City on 10th August.
