Ruben Amorim will be using Manchester United’s pre-season tour to determine his best team ahead of the Premier League opener against Arsenal.
Manchester United’s pre-season is creeping closer and the Reds will be hoping to turn a corner after a dreadful 2024/25 campaign.
Ruben Amorim’s side will return to Carrington at the beginning of July and then face Leeds in Sweden on 19 July for their first friendly game.
Three fixtures will then be played in the United States before the Reds return to Old Trafford for a final exhibition before they host Arsenal on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.
Amorim will not know what his lineup is for that game right now but he will be testing out different things during pre-season to figure that out.
Heaven and Yoro to start together in pre-season
One of the few positions which don’t seem like needing an upgrade this summer is at centre-back, with several solid players operating in those areas.
In terms of experience, there are several options. Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt are there while players like Luke Shaw and Noussair Mazraoui can also be called upon. Lisandro Martínez will also return to action next term.
More importantly, though, is the young talent United have in that position. Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro both impressed a lot last term and were described as “exciting” talents.
Both still teenagers, it is surprising to note that Heaven and Yoro never actually touched the pitch at the same time last term, mostly due to the injuries they sustained at different periods of the season.
Heading into pre-season, Amorim will certainly be looking to have them line up together in some of these friendly games to see how they would perform.
Amorim could start defensive duo vs Arsenal
With five warm-up fixtures coming up, it would be no surprise to see Heaven and Yoro both impress the United boss and end up starting together against Arsenal.
That would mostly depend on the form of Heaven and whether he can prove to Amorim that he should swap Yoro to the other side of the back three.
At the moment, it feels like United’s strongest defence is Yoro on the left, De Ligt in the middle and Mazraoui on the right.
But with Heaven pushing for more involvement, he could influence Amorim to start Yoro on the right or in the middle to fit him in on that left side.
Heaven impressed in his Premier League debut against Arsenal, his former club, and will be eyeing that fixture once again at the start of next season.
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