Manchester United’s squad was boosted by the presence of Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones as they were pictured at the airport travelling to Germany ahead of Sunday night’s friendly against Bayern Munich.
Jose Mourinho was able to include the England stars in his team following their early return from summer breaks. Both players were due to be off until midweek, but agreed to come back prematurely to boost numbers. There was no sign of Anthony Martial, however, who continues to be linked with a move away.
Rashford and Jones made their return to training on Saturday and travelled with their team-mates for the friendly at the Allianz Arena, their final tie before the start of the new season.
Romelu Lukaku, whose Belgium side beat England in the third-place play-off at the World Cup, was also back in training on Saturday but was not pictured alongside his team-mates at Manchester airport.
The striker played through the pain barrier with an ankle injury for much of Belgium’s World Cup campaign and may still be struggling for fitness as a result. With nothing on the line against the Bundesliga champions, there is little to gain from risking him.
Before the return of Rashford and Jones, Jose Mourinho had previously lamented the lack of options available to him over pre-season and warned club bosses they need more signings to challenge for the Premier League title.
His hopes of catching Manchester City have not been helped by the fall out with Martial, who was notably absent from the pictures at Manchester airport. The Frenchman has been training with the squad at Carrington since Thursday, but is still in Mourinho’s bad books after going AWOL from their US tour.
Martial flew back to Paris to witness the birth of his son, Swan, but failed to return to their pre-season camp in LA and instead chose to stay with his partner Melanie Da Cruz following a difficult delivery.
Although Mourinho claimed he did not stop Martial from going, he was not happy with Martial’s decision to stay in France and their personal relationship has moved to breaking point. He is expected to leave the club this summer, but time is running out ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
The French international was pictured arriving at United’s training ground on Friday 3rd August. Martial has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford with his agent Philippe Lamboley confirming the player wants to leave the club.
Mourinho will be willing to let the winger leave if he is not happy as the Special One has the policy of letting wantaway players go although United chiefs are keen to hang onto a prized asset.
The pair’s strained relationship has again come under scrutiny after Martial failed to promptly return to Carrington after being given permission to fly to Paris to be with his partner, Melanie, for the birth of their son, Swan, last week.
Martial has defended his decision to put family first after irking Jose Mourinho by staying with his partner after she gave birth instead of returning to Manchester United’s pre-season tour.
The Red Devils’ frustrating tour of the United States ended with a 2-1 win against Real Madrid on Tuesday, when the France international was again conspicuous by his absence.
Martial told Mourinho that he would be leaving for the birth of his second child after starting the first two matches Stateside and his failure to return from Europe afterwards vexed the manager.
The United boss said after the penultimate match of the tour against Liverpool that “he should be here, and he is not here”, then admitted on Tuesday that he did not know when the 22-year-old would be back with the group in Manchester.
Martial broke his silence shortly after the team landed back in the UK to confirm he will be back on Thursday, when there may well be a frosty reception despite the public justification of his absence.
“Thanks for all your posts,” he wrote on Twitter.
“My little Swan is fine, for the mum it was harder but thank god she is better now.
“Sorry but my family will always come first… back tomorrow in Manchester.”
If Martial has not travelled, Alexis Sanchez will be the only senior striker in the squad who has trained with the club throughout pre-season.
The former Arsenal man has kept busy this summer following Chile’s failure to qualify for the World Cup and should start against Bayern on Sunday night.