MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Erik ten Hag will have newcomers Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui available for Friday’s season opener just days after they signed from Bayern Munich, but the manager lamented that his team is not quite ready for the new Premier League campaign.
United kick off their season against Fulham at Old Trafford but have had little time to integrate the new players, Ten Hag said.
“It’s true, it’s not the pre-season where in five to six weeks you work on a team, it’s very complicated,” the Dutchman said at a press conference on Thursday.
“The USA tour squad, and then we added the players (who had been at) Euros and Copa America and now new signings, and we have to make a team from it.
“That team is not ready, but the league starts and more managers have this problem. Still, we have some room, have some principles and we have to make a start. We can’t hide, we have to deal with it.”
Harry Maguire will feature in Friday’s squad after the defender missed England’s Euro 2024 campaign due to his recovery from injury.
But left back Luke Shaw will not be available. Shaw played in England’s final three games at Euro 2024 after battling a troublesome hamstring injury that resulted in him missing most of last season.
“He will return in the short term, it doesn’t take long,” Ten Hag said. “We are looking forward, of course, for Luke Shaw. A very important player for our team so we want to get him back as soon as possible but we can’t force this process.”
Ten Hag said Mazraoui, Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot can all fill in at left back.
While there was plenty of speculation about Ten Hag’s job last season as United finished eighth in the Premier League, the 54-year-old signed a new contract to stay at the club until 2026 after they upset Manchester City to win the FA Cup.
Ten Hag has high hopes for the team this season.
“We know our targets, we know our direction,” he said. “Now we have to integrate new players where we think they can improve the team levels and to take it from there.
“(Our expectations) are always very high, we want to go for trophies.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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