How do you prepare for a 60-game season?

That appears to be the modus operandi for Manchester United as they head into the 2026-27 campaign. Michael Carrick and his coaching staff have spent pre-season moulding the playing squad into a unit capable of competing on four fronts and making a deep run into the Champions League knockouts. United’s recruitment team and senior executives appear focused on making the squad deeper, rather than chasing individuals at premium prices.

A new season brings a new season preview and many new questions to be answered.

Carrick’s men will return to action in a few days. Is this the season where Manchester United are truly back?

What are the expectations inside the club?

The mood around United is positive. The club opted against a lengthy pre-season trip to North America, Oceania, or East Asia, preferring a smaller-scale tour in which the squad swung back to the Carrington training ground after playing across a host of European cities.

A summer with less travel — and limited interviews and press conferences — means the most written-about football club on the planet are instead enjoying a period of relative calm. The team suffered two defeats in their six pre-season games but looked confident both on and off the ball. A top-five finish in the Premier League is a reasonable expectation, and they will hope to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2018-19.

Who have they signed?

Instead of entering prolonged transfer negotiations for an expensive successor to Casemiro, the club have looked for affordable alternatives.

Andrey Santos made the £50million ($67.6m) move from Stamford Bridge to Old Trafford, bringing clever interceptions and line-breaking passes to the base of Carrick’s midfield. The acquisition of Youri Tielemans was a welcome surprise, bringing additional midfield creativity and (hopefully) serving as a new mentor for Kobbie Mainoo and others. Karl Darlow is the new goalkeeping deputy.

Andrey Santos will help to fill the void left by Casemiro’s departure (David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

A proposed move for Atalanta midfielder Ederson was shelved after the Brazil international was a late call-up to the World Cup, and United have continued to sign promising young players who may initially play under-23 minutes before being fast-tracked to senior team football. Former Tottenham Hotspur academy prospect Tynan Thompson, 18, could offer something different on the left wing in the second half of the season.

What is their transfer priority before the window closes?

United are in the market for a left-back and an additional midfielder. They may also look into signing another centre-forward and possibly a centre-back, but they will require players to depart the club first.

United’s starting XI is worthy of the Champions League places, but fans are concerned over squad depth. Player health will be crucial to a good campaign.

What else is new?

Quite a bit!

Casemiro’s departure has led to a tactical retooling in and out of possession. There have been fewer instances of United retreating into a compact 4-4-2 when defending across pre-season. Instead, without the ball, United move into a proactive 4-2-4 that blocks off passing lanes through the middle. When United recover possession, their initial instinct isn’t to launch a long pass to kickstart a counter-attack as was the case in 2025-26. Pre-season has brought many long passing sequences from players, knocking the ball around in fluid passing triangles.

Marcus Rashford looks likely to return after spending last season on loan at Barcelona, and the 2026-27 campaign is also being filmed by Amazon Prime for its latest All or Nothing documentary, which will be released in Autumn 2027. Expect to see at least one reporter from The Athletic as a background character.

What’s the biggest lesson they learned last season?

Mainoo might be the future of United’s midfield.

He appeared to be heading for the door less than 12 months ago, with Ruben Amorim preferring a midfield pair of Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro in his 3-4-3. That all changed following Carrick’s arrival, with Mainoo becoming a trusted member of the starting XI and eventually signing a new contract with the club that will run until 2031. Towards the end of last season, Carrick used the 21-year-old in a deeper role, with Mainoo collecting the ball from the centre-backs.

Mainoo has a point to prove after being left on the bench for England’s World Cup campaign (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

Those responsibilities may change this season. Santos’ arrival should allow Mainoo to receive the ball in the middle phase, giving him greater attacking freedom. Tielemans may rotate with Mainoo in a box-to-box role across a season that could last 60 matches.

Mainoo had a quiet summer, overlooked by Thomas Tuchel as England reached the World Cup semi-finals. He will once again have to remind the football world how good he can be.

Who has been the best player in pre-season?

Santos has been a revelation at the base of United’s midfield, allowing Carrick to reshape the team’s approach. The 22-year-old is not a tough-tackling defensive midfielder in the style of Casemiro, but brings technical security and excellent match reading ability to the team’s engine room.

Santos’ midfield presence has allowed Mason Mount and others to flourish in a box-to-box role, and the Brazilian’s progressive passing gives United another creative tool when facing low blocks.

What are they worried about?

If we take “they” to mean those inside the club, then…

It may centre on how best to improve the playing squad in an inflated transfer market. Executives wish to avoid the dreaded “United Tax”, where the club would be drawn into prolonged transfer negotiations before being asked to overpay for targets. Coaching and medical staff are also preparing for a huge pendulum swing as the team gets ready for mid-week Champions League fixtures and (hopefully) more domestic cup games.

If we take “they” to mean fans looking from the outside, then… 

The lack of signings following confirmation of Tielemans’ deal in mid-July. Will United sign someone who can take on the lion’s share of defensive duties when Santos is rested? Who plays at left-back if Luke Shaw is injured? Who plays at centre-forward if Benjamin Sesko has another shin issue?

How’s the manager feeling?

It is much harder to decipher Carrick’s poker face compared to Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag, but he seems confident.

What’s the percentage chance of Carrick seeing out the season?

Facing Manchester City, Spurs, Leeds United, Chelsea and Aston Villa in the opening 10 Premier League games will make things difficult, but we give Carrick a 75 per cent chance of completing the 2026-27 season. If the head coach reaches the New Year having shown an ability to balance domestic duties with the Champions League fixtures, then he should have enough credit in the bank.

(We gave Amorim a 50-50 chance of seeing out 2025-26 in last season’s preview.)

I wouldn’t be surprised if…

Last year’s preview offered out four predictions. Two of which were correct. This time:

• United will stay in the top five for the entirety of the season
• Shea Lacey, the 19-year-old, makes at least 20 appearances in all competitions
• United opt against signing additional cover at centre-forward, with Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Rashford all job-sharing the role whenever Sesko is rested or injured
• Ayden Heaven makes more appearances than Lisandro Martinez

What is their strongest XI?

(4-2-3-1): Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Santos, Tielemans; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko

Readers, please share your opinions on Carrick’s strongest XI in the comments section.

There has been something almost absurd about Ferran Torres’ summer.

On July 19, he came off the bench in a World Cup final, scored the winning goal in the 106th minute and became a Spanish football hero.

Spain celebrated him. Barcelona celebrated him, too. At the trophy parade held in Madrid following the team’s return, inflatable sharks could be seen among the crowds — referencing the nickname he cultivated at Barca (tiburon, shark) as a way to deal with pressure.

Now, a month on from Torres’ strike in that 1-0 win over Argentina, some Barcelona supporters are celebrating his departure in a €50million (£42.7m; $57.9m) transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

It’s not the ending you would expect for a World Cup hero.

Torres, 26, is not leaving Barcelona as a unanimously hated player, nor is he departing on bad terms with the club or the people inside it.

But many fans have been upset or annoyed by his behaviour over the past month — and the widely held theory is that his winning goal for Spain was the catalyst.

First of all, we need to talk about the hat.

During Spain’s World Cup celebrations in Madrid, Torres wore a red baseball cap bearing the words ‘Make Spain Great Again’. You don’t need to be a politics junkie to recognise the echoes with U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan.

The White House reacted to the image through its official account on X, posting a video of Torres wearing the cap with the line: “Everyone wants in on the movement.”

Torres later insisted that it had nothing to do with politics, that it was simply about celebrating Spain being back at the top of world football.

SEE IT: Spain World Cup champion Ferran Torres gives fans a front-row look at the national team’s championship parade, sharing a POV video from the celebration on his Instagram Story while wearing a “Make Spain Great Again” hat.

The championship-winning forward rides through the… pic.twitter.com/BcwG8BIxqr

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 21, 2026

Then there was the bracelet.

At the celebrations, Torres was also spotted wearing a rubber bracelet with a Spain flag that carried branding from the Guardia Civil — one of the country’s two national law enforcement agencies (the other being the Policia Nacional).

It would be unfair to assume that Torres was wearing that as some kind of political statement, but Catalonia’s recent history means some people saw one regardless.

In 2017, at the peak of the region’s now considerably weaker pro-independence movement, a referendum on the issue was organised by local authorities — without the permission of the Spanish government, who deemed it illegal. It brought huge crowds into Barcelona’s streets and was met with a heavy police crackdown.

Perhaps Torres was simply expressing his Spanish identity. But in Catalonia, even a seemingly harmless gesture can take on political significance. In Barcelona, a mural of Torres by Italian street artist TVBoy was defaced with the slogan: “We want Catalan national teams”, Another message scrawled on top simply read: “Spain”. Both were written in Catalan.

The mural of Ferran Torres by TVBoy as seen in Barcelona on July 22 (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)

Torres responded to the situation in an interview with Radio Play Valencia a few weeks later.

“I am Valencian, a Valencianista (a proud supporter of the Valencia region) and Spanish,” he said. “If someone doesn’t like that, that’s their problem.”

Torres made those comments on August 7. By that time, he had already caused a bigger stir with several interviews in the United States.

After the World Cup final, Torres and the other seven Barca players in Spain’s squad had holidays before returning for pre-season training. Torres travelled to the U.S., where he took Barca by surprise with a round of media appearances on August 3.

“I have a contract at Barcelona, but in football you never know,” he said on NBC when asked where he would be playing this season, his Barca contract due to expire in June 2027. “I am just waiting to make the right decision, but I don’t know it yet.”

Later, speaking to Sportico, he also addressed reported interest from PSG.

“Every time these teams want you it’s a good thing,” Torres said. “In football you never know what can happen, but the good thing is that, as I have a contract, I can wait and decide on my own.

“What do Barca need to do to keep me? They have to show me they want me, come to negotiate, and in the end it’s all about talking.”

Spain held a trophy parade and celebrations in Madrid the day after the World Cup final (Diego Souto/Getty Images)

Torres is not a player who set the world alight at Barca. It would be fair to say he struggled overall to live up to the expectations following his €55million arrival from Manchester City in January 2022.

He also struggled with the mental side of the game and consulted psychologists to help get the best out of himself. This is where that nickname comes in again. The ‘shark’ reference comes via UFC fighter Ilia Topuria. Torres heard an interview with the Georgian-Spanish athlete in which he said of his rivals: “There’s only one shark here; the rest are sardines.”

He found it funny and told his Barcelona team-mates about it while they were eating. After an upturn in his goalscoring form for Barca at the beginning of 2023-24, the team started calling him ‘El Tiburon’. His goal celebrations reflected a player who felt he was proving doubters wrong.

But Torres has still never quite managed to deliver consistently, and that feeling of it being him against the world has not disappeared.

Ferran Torres’ goal sealed the second World Cup in Spain’s history (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

At the start of 2025-26, Hansi Flick’s idea was for the season to mark a transition from Robert Lewandowski to Torres as Barcelona’s leading No 9, but the reality was different. Torres struggled and ended the campaign with 21 goals and three assists in 49 appearances, going 14 games without scoring between late January and mid-April. After the season ended, there were no advances on a contract renewal, a situation complicated by the deal that took him from City four years ago.

Barca would have had to pay City about €8million if they had renewed Torres’ contract, while club sources — speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment — also said another clause meant selling him for anything over €55m would have forced them to pay City €10m.

The Spanish club ended up seeing him as a top-class substitute rather than a regular starter. Further to this, they have been trying to sign Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez all summer.

Barca’s pursuit of Alvarez reinforced a perception that had been building around Torres. He felt he had been treated harshly for some time, and he wanted to respond to that. Every goal had become an answer to his critics, every good performance a rebuttal.

Ferran Torres joins up with former Spain manager Luis Enrique at PSG (Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images)

The critics were real, of course. So was the pressure. Barcelona is an unforgiving place for any player, and Torres has received his share of criticism. No one can blame him for carrying it as he has. But at times he seemed to be fighting a version of his critics that was larger, louder and more permanent than the one that actually existed. Many Barcelona supporters saw a betrayal of some kind in those U.S. media interviews — as they felt the club’s fanbase had rallied behind him in important moments.

Did Torres receive more criticism than he deserved? Did he receive more support than he remembers? The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Then, he scored the winning goal in a World Cup final.

The comparisons with Andres Iniesta’s extra-time strike in the 2010 final against the Netherlands (another 1-0 win for Spain) were obvious. The logical next step, in Torres’ eyes, might well have been to get out there and say, as the new hero of the nation, I told you so.

But in the end, there is perhaps nothing more Spanish than emulating Don Quixote — fighting battles against giants that may have been much smaller than they seemed.

The mood inside Tottenham Hotspur has undergone a transformation over the last six months.

When Roberto De Zerbi was appointed as head coach on a five-year contract in March, it looked like they were going to be relegated. Spurs had not won a game in 2026 and fans were grappling with the prospect of spending at least 12 months stuck in the Championship. However, De Zerbi turned their fortunes around and they survived after beating Everton 1-0 on the final day to finish 17th for the second consecutive season.

Spurs have been one of the biggest spenders in the transfer market this summer, as well as tying down some key players to long-term contracts. Excitement is building that De Zerbi can achieve something truly special.

Here, The Athletic looks at how Tottenham’s season might play out.

What are the expectations inside the club?

Nearly £250million (more than $330m) has been spent on six new signings and Spurs would like to add a couple more before the window closes, including Manchester City winger Savinho.

There is a lack of attacking options within the squad, especially because Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Dejan Kulusevski are recovering from long-term knee injuries, but Spurs should be aiming for the top six.

Savinho has been a long-term target for Spurs (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Who have they signed?

The defence and midfield have been remodelled. Spurs broke their transfer record twice in a week to sign Mateus Fernandes for £85m and Sandro Tonali for £100m from West Ham United and Newcastle United.

Last season’s captain Cristian Romero has joined Atletico Madrid and has been replaced by Jan Paul van Hecke — signed from Brighton & Hove Albion — in central defence. Andy Robertson arrived from Liverpool as a free agent to provide competition for left-back Destiny Udogie but fan favourite Djed Spence left for Inter.

Micky van de Ven agreed a new long-term contract and will battle with new signing Marcos Senesi to start as the team’s left-sided centre-back. Antonin Kinsky’s promotion to first-choice goalkeeper allowed Guglielmo Vicario to pursue a loan move to Juventus, with an option to buy. That means Martin Dubravka will be Kinsky’s understudy after leaving Burnley when his contract expired in June.

Jan Paul van Hecke has been brought in to strengthen Spurs’ defence (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

If Spurs can complete a deal for Savinho and add another quality forward, they will have arguably had the most exciting summer window of any Premier League side this year.

What is their transfer priority before the window closes?

Spurs’ pursuit of Savinho has been well-documented but they probably need another centre-forward. Richarlison, last season’s top scorer (12 goals in all competitions), has played under five different head coaches since he joined Spurs in July 2022 and has never been a perfect fit. De Zerbi admitted earlier this month that the Brazil international “sometimes wants to leave”.

Dominic Solanke is talented but only made 15 appearances last season for a total of 1,000 minutes. The England international has started in under 50 per cent of the available league games (36 out of 76) since he arrived from Bournemouth in August 2024. Spurs need a striker who is consistently available and can carry out De Zerbi’s demands.

Solanke’s injury issues have prevented him from becoming a key player for Spurs (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

What else is new?

It is easy to forget that De Zerbi barely tinkered with the team’s tactics when he took over, as he focused on lifting their spirits following a miserable period under Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor.

There have been glimpses throughout pre-season of the intricate, risky build-up play that earned De Zerbi so many admirers during his two-year spell with Brighton. Kinsky is more suited to De Zerbi’s style than Vicario, so expect to see lots of nerve-inducing passes under pressure from him and Tottenham’s centre-backs inside their own penalty area.

What is the biggest lesson they learned last season?

Spurs were stung in the summer of 2025 by their failed pursuits of Bryan Mbeumo, Eberechi Eze, Antoine Semenyo and Morgan Gibbs-White. Former executive chairman Daniel Levy had a reputation for haggling over deals, sometimes allowing rival clubs to steal transfer targets from them. Spurs then gambled in January by signing only Conor Gallagher and Souza, now 20, when the team was in dire need of more help.

There has been a complete change of attitude this summer from chief executive officer Vinai Venkatesham, sporting director Johan Lange and recently appointed director of football operations Carlos Raphael Moersen. Spurs beat off competition from Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain to sign Fernandes, while Manchester City were interested in Tonali. But Spurs acted quickly to tie up those deals and secure Porro, Kinsky and Van de Ven to new contracts.

Spurs are finally throwing money around in a way they rarely have before.

Spurs outpaced rivals to sign Mateus Fernandes from West Ham (Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Who’s been the best player in pre-season?

Lucas Bergvall has been exceptional despite the uncertainty over his future. The Athletic reported in June that the midfielder expressed a preference to move on but bids from Nottingham Forest and Newcastle were rejected. Bergvall has worked hard and has shown signs of building an exciting partnership with Tonali. Even so, it is unlikely he will start in Saturday’s league opener against Brentford because Fernandes has recovered from the minor injury that restricted his game time on the pre-season tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Luca Williams-Barnett, the 17-year-old attacking midfielder, has thrived and a tough decision needs to be made about whether he should stay with the first-team squad or head out on loan.

What are they worried about?

Mention injuries to anybody connected with Spurs and you will send a shiver down their spine. Fitness issues have played a huge part in Spurs recording back-to-back 17th-place finishes in the top flight. Three players tore their anterior cruciate ligaments last season, Kulusevski did not play a single minute and several other squad members suffered muscle problems.

Dan Lewindon joined as performance director in February and has instigated changes that will hopefully help them avoid another injury crisis but there are concerns about the limited involvement of Van de Ven, Udogie, Solanke and Mohammed Kudus in pre-season.

Dejan Kulusevski has not featured for Spurs since May 2025 (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

How’s the manager feeling?

De Zerbi should be thrilled by Tottenham’s business this summer. Landing Fernandes and Tonali was extremely impressive, while Van Hecke and Van de Ven can reignite an excellent centre-back partnership that can be traced back to the Netherlands’ youth teams. As a bonus, Andrew Crofts has been appointed as De Zerbi’s assistant coach after they previously worked together on the south coast.

Romero, Spence and Vicario could have become distractions but Spurs have waved goodbye to them before the start of the new campaign. If Spurs sign a couple of attacking players, then they will have put everything in place for De Zerbi to succeed.

What’s the percentage chance of De Zerbi seeing out the season?

This should be a straightforward answer after the Italian’s rescue act last season. The 47-year-old has a huge amount of credit with supporters and a strong relationship with senior figures.

However, De Zerbi never sticks around for too long. He fell out with his bosses at Brighton over their recruitment strategy and left Marseille after they were knocked out of the Champions League. Hopefully, all of the ingredients are there for a fruitful, long-lasting relationship, but you never know.

Spurs fans are excited about how their club can progress under De Zerbi (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

I wouldn’t be surprised if…

Spurs gatecrashed the top four. They have struggled over the last few years to juggle domestic competitions with Europe but they do not have that dilemma this season. In theory, players will feel refreshed and coaching staff will have more time to prepare for opponents.

Over the last 12 months, Spurs have cycled through three different head coaches, sacked their long-serving executive chairman, rehired Fabio Paratici only for him to leave after four months and had multiple parties express an interest in taking over from the majority shareholders, the Lewis family.

There is never a dull day in north London. Quite frankly, anything could happen.

What is their strongest XI?

4-2-3-1: Antonin Kinsky; Pedro Porro, Jan Paul van Hecke, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie; Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali; Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Mathys Tel; Dominic Solanke.