Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has opted for a mixture of youth and experience in his 25-man squad for the preseason China tour, with the travelling party being announced on Tuesday morning ahead of flying out in the afternoon.
Following the 2-0 preseason win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday, Mourinho added stellar names such as David De Gea, Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Chris Smalling but there were also spots for Axel Tuanzebe and Will Keane, who scored the first goal in the victory at the DW Stadium.
Mourinho has already confirmed that United’s England contingent, who played at the European Championship, will not be playing in China but will tour. He intends to give game time to the players who have been training since the start of preseason, when he took charge of it almost a fortnight ago.
As expected, new signings Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly are travelling, but the club’s other summer newcomer Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not go. Ibrahimovic’s next chance to play for the United first team will be in his homeland of Sweden on July 30, when United face Galatasaray in a friendly.
France pair Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin, Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger, Belgium’s Marouane Fellaini and Italy’s Matteo Darmian are all also not going to the Far East, giving them more recovery time after Euro 2016, similar to Sweden’s Ibrahimovic.
Striker James Wilson was left out of the China tour party though, having failed to impress at Wigan on Saturday, and defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has also been left at home with injury believed to be the reason.
United will play in the International Champions Cup, facing Borussia Dortmund on Friday then Manchester City on Monday.
Squad: David De Gea, Sergio Romero, Sam Johnstone, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Phil Jones, Paddy McNair, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling, Axel Tuanzebe, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, Adnan Januzaj, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Memphis Depay, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Andreas Pereira, Ashley Young, Will Keane, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney.
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