Manchester United progress under Erik ten Hag will be clear with Wolves team selection

A year ago nobody could quite be certain what Erik ten Hag saw as his best Manchester United XI, including Ten Hag himself. When the 2022/23 season began, Raphael Varane was on the bench and Christian Eriksen was up front. Brighton won at Old Trafford on the opening weekend.

Things got worse at Brentford a week later but from that wreckage, a clearer picture began to emerge. Looking back, those defeats at the start of last season were the beginning of the end for David de Gea, Harry Maguire and Fred, at least.

De Gea lasted until the summer before being released, Maguire started just six of the next 36 Premier League games and Fred just 10 of them. By the end of the season, Ten Hag pretty much knew his best team.

After spending another £180million this summer, he's now an even clearer picture of what constitutes his starting XI for the biggest games. We're just under a week away from the first ball of United's campaign being kicked, but we could probably all guess at least 10 of the team at this stage.

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De Gea was the undisputed No. 1 last season but there was no other option. Now, Andre Onana is Ten Hag's man in goal and stylistically he's the perfect fit. There is no debate to be had.

The major question mark in the team for now is at right-back. Diogo Dalot played in the strongest friendly of the weekend, against Lens, but was poor, having played well to earn the spot against Borussia Dortmund a week earlier. Maybe Dalot just about remains in possession, but it's close to being a coin-flip with Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

The rest of the defence picks itself. If fit, and that is a major caveat for Varane, then the centre of defence features a pair of World Cup winners