Carrick has confirmed Marcus Rashford will rejoin the Manchester United squad for their trip to the Republic of Ireland.

Rashford, England team-mate Kobbie Mainoo and Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez are the final three players to return for United after the World Cup.

Although it was not expected Rashford would return to the club when he joined Barcelona on loan in July 2025, the La Liga champions failed to trigger a £26m option to buy the 28-year-old at the end of the season.

Despite interest elsewhere, there has been no deal, meaning Rashford will return to United for the first time since January 2025, when he moved to Aston Villa after falling out with former manager Ruben Amorim.

United are training at the plush Carton House hotel in Maynooth and have a friendly with Leeds United at Croke Park on 12 August.

They complete their pre-season programme against Amorim’s new club AC Milan in Wroclaw on 15 August, when Rashford could make his first United appearance since December 2024 if Carrick decides Wednesday is too soon.

A former team-mate, coach and manager of Rashford, it has been felt if anyone can patch up the relationship between club and player – which includes his number 10 shirt being given to Matheus Cunha who is also due to be on the trip after a minor injury ruled him out of the Gothenburg encounter – it is Carrick.

“I’ve played with him. I played in the game he made his debut, so we have a history,” Carrick said.

“We have got a full squad this week in Dublin. We fly straight there and have a few days where we have the whole group back together. Marcus is part of that, and Kobbie [Mainoo] and Lisandro [Martinez]. We look forward to seeing them.”

Getting back to basics seems key, according to manager Craig McLeish, for last seasons’ League Cup winners. That and using the negative feeling that play-off last term brought as motivation.

“I’m still using that as fuel,” he told BBC Scotland. “I don’t want to be involved in that.

“We’ve got a massive journey ahead of us and we have to keep building. Six points out of six is a great start.

“It helps with the belief in each other. I’ve said to the boys I have confidence in them.

“Last season, we had two horrendous play off games – even the emotion about it, there were so much nerves when we stepped on the pitch.

“We have to be horrible to play against. Two clean sheets sets us up well for that.

“We want to be really good at the basics and not get bored of that.

“The running, energy and desire. We want to be fit and strong and relentless this season against whoever we play. We have to keep those standards really high. We did it last week and lived up to it again.”

It is a sentiment shared by new goalkeeping recruit Jacob Chapman, whose penalty save early in the second half laid the platform before Killian Phillips converted from the spot.

“Defenders throwing their bodies on the line; [Alex] Gogic throwing his head here and everywhere,” he told BBC Scotland.

“Even the attackers coming back and helping defend.

“It sets the tempo for the season. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win every game or even have a great season, but it definitely helps.

“And it’s what a great season looks like at the start. We’ve started well.

“A bit scrappy in some areas and we need to clean that out, but there was still some really nice football getting played in certain areas.”

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