Mourinho to include new faces in Man Utd’s pre-season squad

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Kolkata, July 10: With several of first-team players on England duty at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Manchester United's pre-season squad is expected to feature a few new faces.

Jose Mourinho has called 16-year-old forward Mason Greenwood to the camp while youngsters Angel Gomes, Tahith Chong, Joe Garner, Tuanzebe and Mitchell, the United graduates, have also been added to the pre-season roster.

It is understood that Greenwood's selection is mainly forced by Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford's World Cup commitments. The 16-year-old had scored 17 goals in as many appearances for the Under-18s last year.

Chong had claimed the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award last season, while Gomes who made his debut two seasons back as the youngest-ever United player, is also expected to feature in the travelling squad. Garner a defensive midfielder of the Under-18 squad will also be given a chance.

Mitchell and Tuanzebe, who had their loan spells at Hearts and Aston Villa last season, too will possibly get a chance in the squad and will have the opportunity to impress the manager.

Nineteen-year-old defender RoShaun Williams, who was named on the first-team bench by Louis van Gaal for Cup ties against West Ham and Liverpool in March 2016, has been called for the first team training so is Ethan Hamilton, who was promoted to the first-team bench at Huddersfield in February. However, it is not sure if they will fly out with the rest of the United squad to USA to play pre-season friendlies.

Seven players from the first team squad, however, will miss most of the pre-season friendly. Jones, Young, Rashford, Lingard, Lukaku, Fellaini, Pogba all are currently busy in World Cup and once the tournament is over, they will get at least a three weeks break and are expected to join the team just before the Premier League campaign.

However, Nemanja Matic, who was the only Manchester United player to get knocked out in the group stages, is expected to join the squad just before they travel to the USA whereas others like, David de Gea, Fred, and Victor Lindelof who were involved in the knockout stages are expected to feature during the later stages of the pre-season tour.

United will also carry young goalkeepers Joel Pereira and O'Hara to the US as both of them have not been able to secure a loan move yet. New signing Lee Grant on the other hand, will travel as another goalkeeping option.