Manchester United could begin this season how they ended last season after £59m setback

If anything was going to make Erik ten Hag wince in discomfort in Los Angeles on Saturday it was the sight of his new centre-back limping off injured. Leny Yoro has been at Manchester United for less than two weeks but the curse has already got him.

The fitness issues that wrecked most of last season resurfaced ominously early for United on the west coast of America. Yoro's first-half exit from the SoFi Stadium came after Rasmus Hojlund had already disappeared down the tunnel.

Ten Hag will wait to see the extent of those problems, although it was the teenage defender who looked in more discomfort as his second appearance for the club ended early. We are less than two weeks away from the Community Shield and less than three weeks away from the start of the Premier League.

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The United manager will already be considering the kind of defence he can field against Fulham when United get the new campaign underway on Friday, August 16. As of right now, none of the four defenders he would consider his first-choice options are available.

Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez are all on holiday after their international tournaments this summer. Dalot could return to Carrington this week after three weeks off following the end of Portugal's Euro 2024 campaign and that should at least allow him to build up fitness ahead of the Community Shield on August 10.

That fixture against Manchester City could come too soon for Martinez and Shaw. The left-back and left-sided centre-back both had injury problems last term but played a part in the run to the