Key Manchester United player begins pre-season preparations at Carrington with rest of squad in USA
One of the Manchester United players who made it to the latter stages of Euro 2024 was spotted back at the club’s training base.
Joshua Zirkzee trained for the first time as a Manchester United player on Monday as he returned from his short break following his involvement at Euro 2024.
The striker, who signed from Bologna earlier this month in a transfer worth up to £36m, was part of the Netherlands squad in Germany and was entitled to a three-week break following their elimination from the competition. Zirkzee cut that short by a few days to begin training at Carrington this week.
The club posted a video of the forward arriving at their training base on Monday, accompanied by images of him going through his paces on the grass. However, it would have been a quiet first session for the Dutchman given the rest of the squad are currently in the USA on pre-season tour.
Zirzkee was one of 10 senior players omitted from the travelling party, and will meet up with the majority of his new team-mates when they return from America after Sunday’s game against Liverpool. Preparation will then begin for the Community Shield against Manchester City on 10 August.
Despite Zirkzee’s return there is no update yet on when Altay Bayindir, Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes will be back in training after the trio were all eliminated at the quarter-final stage of Euro 2024.
Meanwhile, Luke Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo are expected back even later given England’s progress to the final. It’s a similar situation for Lisandro Martinez and Alejandro Garnacho, who were part of Argentina’s Copa America-winning side this summer.