Manchester United kicks off its preseason against Wrexham in Helsinki today, and the story everyone’s watching isn’t the opponent. It’s Andrey Santos.
The Brazilian midfielder, who cost United $65 million when he crossed from Chelsea this week, is expected to make his first appearance for the club in this friendly. Michael Carrick, now confirmed as the permanent manager after a solid interim run, is throwing him straight into the fire. Or at least into a friendly against a Championship side in a stadium that’s usually home to Finnish soccer.
Santos is the only new face in United’s traveling squad. Youri Tielemans is getting rest after the World Cup — Belgium went deeper than most people expected — and backup goalkeeper Karl Darlow is still coming back from a minor procedure he had at the end of last season. So the headline arrival is a 21-year-old who couldn’t get a real look at Chelsea and is now being asked to be part of United’s midfield reset.
Carrick’s World Cup players aren’t here yet. Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha, Senne Lammens, Amad Diallo, Diogo Dalot, Noussair Mazraoui and Altay Bayindir are all still on tournament duty or taking post-tournament leave. Lisandro Martinez, Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford are also absent — still playing for their countries in North America. That’s a lot of talent not in the building.
Who’s actually available
The squad Carrick brought to Finland is a mix of veterans who got snubbed by England boss Thomas Tuchel and kids trying to force their way into the first team. Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw are both in Helsinki after being left off England’s World Cup roster. Tyler Fletcher is also back, though he didn’t play a minute for Scotland after his surprise late call-up. That’s something.
Then there are the young guys. Shea Lacey and Chido Obi are both in the traveling party, which tells you Carrick wants to see what they can do against real opponents. Not just in training.
Benjamin Sesko is still working back from an injury. Manuel Ugarte is out for months — knee ligament damage he picked up with Uruguay, which required surgery. So the midfield depth is getting tested early.
How to watch Man United vs Wrexham
The match is being shown live on MUTV, United’s in-house channel, which costs $9.99 a month or $39.99 for the year in the U.S. Coverage starts at 10 a.m. ET, with kickoff at 11 a.m. ET.
If you don’t want to subscribe to MUTV, Wrexham’s selling a one-off streaming pass for $6.50 on their official website. That’s probably the cheaper option if you only care about this one game.
Either way, the real takeaway from today is Santos. United spent big on a player Chelsea decided they didn’t need, and Carrick is betting he can unlock something the Blues never found. That’s either going to look smart or expensive by October.
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