Wout Weghorst joined his new Manchester United teammates for his first training session with the Reds on Sunday as the striker was put through his paces.
The attacker arrived at the club on Friday and was at Old Trafford on Saturday to watch his team’s 2-1 derby win over Manchester City. A day later, he was out on the Carrington pitch as he gears up for his anticipated debut.
United take on Crystal Palace on Wednesday before skipping across London to play Arsenal on Sunday. With Anthony Martial yet to complete a 90 minutes this season, Weghorst will hope he is given his first United outing over the next few days.
Here are four things we spotted during his first training session.
‘It was a great ball!’
Weghorst was involved in a rondo later on in the session as his touch was put to the test. At one stage, the attacker’s ball was not successful as the streak broke down as the tally reached 15.
After giving a comical aghast reaction, it was determined that Weghorst was at fault and was required to go into the middle of the circle and act as the defender. Upon learning this, clearly feeling he wasn’t at fault, he humoured ‘Nooo, it was a great ball!’ which was met with a few smiles.
Message to Pellistri
Towards the end of the session, the group – made up of those who didn’t feature much or at all in the derby win – underwent a handful of pass-and-move exercises. During this, Facundo Pellistri produced an awkwardly bouncing first touch.
This prompted the coaching staff to shout “quality first then you can speed on, quality first” – a reminder what the youngster needs to continue to show to build on his debut United outing from last Tuesday’s win over Charlton.
Kobbie Mainoo praise
In the same passage, rising star Kobbie Mainoo was hailed for his product in the exercise, with staff praising his quality of pass. The 17-year-old was handed his senior debut against Charlton last week and looks to have a promising future ahead of him.
He was again training with the first-team and was put through his paces alongside a number of experienced senior stars.
Martinez building up fitness
One of those senior stars was World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez, who was benched for the triumph over City before coming on in added time. Luke Shaw started ahead of the centre-half in his fourth game operating in the position.
Erik ten Hag explained that he had selected Shaw ahead of Martinez due to the amount of game time the England defender has had since the World Cup. Martinez could gain his first Premier League start since the break against Palace ahead of a tough test at Arsenal.
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