Manchester United's academy teams and first team will kick off their pre-season schedule with friendlies over the next two days. Michael Carrick will oversee a visit to Finland to take on Wrexham this weekend. United's players reported back for pre-season a week ago, and excitement is building ahead of the new campaign.
Orozco to Make His Debut?
Cristian Orozco's transfer was completed on Monday when he celebrated his 18th birthday. He has started life at the club by joining the academy group, which means he could make his 'debut' tomorrow afternoon. The MEN revealed last week that the PDP group (Under-17 to Under-21 players) will play two friendlies in Germany against TSV 1860 Munich and FC Nurnberg. Both friendlies will be played at the Adi-Dassler Stadium tomorrow, meaning Orozco could make his first appearance in a red shirt. United will be patient with the youngster and give him time to settle into his new surroundings. He will be given English lessons to help him settle. Orozco is already familiar with his academy peers, having spent some time at Carrington in December, but the trip away should help him bond with the group.
Gabriel Working Hard
The Academy Notebook has been up and running again for two months now, and JJ Gabriel has probably been the youngster who has featured the most. There is significant interest in Gabriel due to his supreme talent, but talent is nothing without hard work. The teenager maintained sharpness before the beginning of pre-season with individual coaching sessions abroad, and those one-to-one sessions have continued now he's back in England. Although Gabriel reported back for pre-season at Carrington, he is still doing extras with individual coach Jack Hunter, who also works with Aston Villa defender Ian Maatsen.
United's Visit to Finland
United begin their pre-season with a friendly against Wrexham in Helsinki on Saturday afternoon. There were 29 players who made the trip to Stockholm for the opening friendly of last summer against Leeds. The travelling squad is expected to be slightly smaller for the opening game this summer, but it will still be a large contingent. It will be interesting to see which young players make the trip this weekend. Shea Lacey, Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson and Jack Fletcher took part in the first senior training session back at Carrington, so they are shoo-ins. Toby Collyer is further ahead in his development, but he is still an academy graduate. Collyer will get a chance to show Carrick what he can do following a frustrating loan spell with Hull City. Collyer encountered bad luck with injuries at Hull - a goalkeeper fell on his ankle in training - and he recently visited a medical expert in Spain to essentially get a health MOT ahead of an important campaign. It will be worth keeping an eye on how Collyer gets on. United fans will be excited to see the likes of Lacey, Amass and Fletcher in action as well.
United Coach Joins Everton
The MEN reported that United academy coach Tom Curtis was expected to join Everton. That move has now been rubber-stamped, with Curtis completing a switch to Merseyside to link up with former United academy boss Nick Cox. Curtis acted as U21 caretaker when a coaching reshuffle was required during Darren Fletcher's two games in charge of the first team in January. He managed four U21 matches before Adam Lawrence was appointed interim for the remainder of the season. Curtis has joined Everton to coach their U21s alongside former United academy coach Dave Hughes. Cox has a strong relationship with both coaches and has rekindled the connections at Everton.
Academy Recruitment Drive
United are set to make three academy hires in the coming weeks, with the club currently looking to appoint a new academy coach, an individual development coach and a lead phase coach. The Reds have advertised the roles to "support the continued development of the next generation of players" and to "help create an environment where young talent can thrive both on and off the pitch". The lead phase coach will be tasked with "delivering a high-quality player development programme that identifies, recruits, develops, and retains high-potential players". The individual development coach will be responsible for "designing and delivering position-specific and individualised development programmes to maximise the potential of academy players". It looks like United have advertised those two roles to take on the previous responsibilities of Travis Binnion, who is now an important part of Carrick's coaching staff after stepping up to the first team in January. Binnion was not just the U21 manager, his official title was 'head of player development and coaching'. United need to get the appointments right because Binnion was a key cog in the academy system. He continued to attend practically all the academy matches in the second half of the season, but that will be impossible next season given United are back in the Champions League.
