Sekou Kone and Noussair Mazraoui moments shows important Man United change made under INEOS

Sekou Kone and Noussair Mazraoui are two new signings for Erik ten Hag’s squad at Manchester United this summer.

Kone, 18, signed on deadline day and is not expected to be in the United first-team immediately, although reports say that those at the call class him as a signing for Ten Hag’s squad.

This is because of the cultural changes he will be experiencing, going from Mali to England and having only recently turned 18.

“Kone only turned 18 in February and will initially be supported by the Academy in order to give him time to settle into life in Manchester,” a club statement explained.

The talented midfielder was present for the Under-21s game on Friday evening and also the Under-18s game at Carrington the following morning.

It was nice to see Marcus Rashford also watching the youth, who won 2-0 against Liverpool, and the no.10 spent time with Kone during the game.

These type of small things will help the teenager settle into life in Manchester and it seems to be something that the INEOS-led team at Old Trafford are focused on.

A recent report from The Athletic has explained that Matthijs de Ligt and his wife Annekee have already found a permanent home with help from the club.

It was also explained that United’s player-care team arranged for a Muslim community leader to show Noussair Mazraoui around the local mosques, for example.

Ten Hag and those at the top of the club believe that it is important to be able to make new players comfortable in the new environment as quickly as possible.

These ideas sound like they might come out of the Sir Dave Brailsford ‘marginal gains’ playbook.

Whoever they are coming from, it is good to see United paying attention to the potential difficulties these players may face away from the pitch in a new city and country. And hopefully, we will see the benefits of that on the Old Trafford pitch.

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