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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Daniel Murphy

Donny van de Beek moment and four more things spotted as Manchester United return to training

Manchester United are back in training.

Erik ten Hag has taken a mixed group of senior players that didn't go to the World Cup and youngsters to Cadiz in Spain for a warm-weather training camp, where they will also play friendlies against Cadiz and Real Betis this week. United will now be aiming to prepare themselves for a return to club football at the end of December once the World Cup comes to an end.

United have released a short clip from the session and here are five things we spotted:

Read more: United are being invited to make their next England signing

Senior stars lead the pack

The vast majority of United's squad is currently away in Qatar representing their nations in the World Cup. Only Christian Eriksen, Hannibal Mejbri and Facundo Pellistri have suffered an early exit as Denmark, Tunisia and Uruguay failed to make it from the groups but the rest are now gearing themselves up for a tense group stage.

Some senior stars didn't make the trip to the Middle East, however, as their nations didn't qualify or, in David de Gea and Donny van de Beek's cases, they weren't picked. As the players began their warm-ups, it was first-teamers Van de Beek, Victor Lindelof and Scott McTominay who led the group in the jogs showing their seniority.

Ten Hag running the rule

With so many seniors in Qatar, Ten Hag has had to supplement his training squad with a whole host of the club's talented youngsters. Of the 29 players to make the trip to Spain, only 11 could be considered regular members of the first-team squad. Three of those are goalkeepers, one hasn't played all season in Brandon Williams and the other is youngster Alejandro Garnacho.

Shola Shoretire, Charlie McNeil, Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage, Teden Mengi and Di'Shon Bernard have all made senior appearances as well but the rest are yet to make their debuts. With United returning to action in the Carabao Cup against Burnley just three days after the World Cup concludes, there will likely be places for several of the youngsters on the trip in the squad.

But who earns them will depend on who performs well and impresses Ten Hag during the training trip and two friendlies. The Dutchman was running the rule over the young players, keeping a close eye on how they performed in passing drills and it will be intriguing to see which get a place in the squad.

Van de Beek skill

It's been difficult for Van de Beek ever since he moved to United and things haven't gotten much better since the man who harnessed his potential at Ajax took charge at Old Trafford. Ten Hag started the midfielder in three successive matches before the break but he didn't impress in any of them.

A lovely piece of skill from Van de Beek (Manchester United FC)

It looks to be a long road for Van de Beek to get back to his best but he will likely get another opportunity to shine against Burnley. In a clip that was short of outstanding highlights, the Dutchman did impress with some lovely pieces of skill as he flicked the ball to a teammate behind his standing leg twice within quick succession.

Pass and move play

A large portion of the training session appeared to be focussed on passing and moving. Ten Hag wants his side to play nice, attacking football and he's clearly aiming for the club's academy prospects to be well-versed in it should they ever make a permanent step up to his squad. The youngsters applied themselves well with some slick passages of play that left the manager smiling.

Ten Hag not taking it easy

Ten Hag relays instructions to the players (Manchester United FC)

We may have thought the camp was more for the benefit of getting the senior players' fitness back up after a short break and the youngsters were there to make up the numbers, but Ten Hag certainly isn't taking the trip easy. At one stage he paused the passing drill and walked on the pitch to get the attention of the players before relaying a series of instructions.

The academy hopefuls are certainly getting the full Ten Hag experience while away and hopefully it will be of massive benefit to their development.

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