Manchester United vs Wrexham LIVE: Pre-season friendly match stream, confirmed team news, lineups and fan reaction

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Evening Standard

18 July 2026

Red Devils commence new campaign in Scandinavia

Manchester United take on

Wrexham

this afternoon in the first of their pre-season friendlies.

The Red Devils

face the Championship outfit in Helsinki, Finland, at the country’s Olympic Stadium. It will be the first game of Michael Carrick’s permanent tenure as United boss, after he was handed the reins on a full-time basis after a successful second caretaker spell.

The former midfielder led his old employers back to the Champions League for the first time since 2023, having taken over the reins from Ruben Amorim back in January. He has since been backed in the transfer market, with the club bringing in the likes of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans to bolster his engine room, while Karl Darlow arrives on a free transfer to push first-choice goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

United will be without a host of stars this afternoon with most of their squad involved at this summer’s World Cup, but there may be some debut minutes for a new signing along the way. Keep up to date with all the latest from Helsinki with our live blog below.

Live updates

Fans are growing excited at the prospect of seeing some of the new arrivals in action this afternoon, but it may only be Andrey Santos, the former Chelsea man, who takes to the field and is given a first run-out in United colours.

New signing: Andrey Santos

Getty

Benjamin Sesko

will not feature for

Manchester United

as they open their new season against

today.

He did not play at this summer’s World Cup with Slovenia, who didn’t qualify, but he misses this match through another fitness concern.

Man Utd XI

: Heaton; Yoro, Maguire, Heaven, Shaw; Santos, Fletcher; Mbeumo, Mount, Dorgu; Zirkzee

Subs

: Vitek, Mee, Obi, Wheatley, Fletcher, Amass, Collyer, Gore, Lacey, Williams, Kamason, Devaney, Thwaites, Armer

"It's all part of preseason and building interest. Man Utd fans will love to see the new kit and new players,” Louis Saha told

BettingLounge

Wrexham is an attraction because of what they achieved in consecutive years and what they have built around the world. These strange combinations of fixtures and destinations are strong for promotion, so it will be fun to watch.

"It doesn't say much for the Premier League season since so much is still to happen in the transfer market, but we can see the fitness and first glimpses of the tactics being applied.

"It’s an exciting game and I’ll predict a win for Man Utd of course."

"I’ve watched Welcome To

and it is a super interesting show but for some reason I don’t see them ever making it to the Premier League. I feel like they have already reached their ceiling,” Mikael Silvestre said to

Grosvenor Sport

"Even if they were to make it up into the Premier League, that is a level that is so hard to sustain. Almost everybody who comes up goes back down immediately. Look at Ipswich Town or Burnley.

"Sunderland have managed to remain in the Premier League but the rest of the teams struggle because there is a big, big gap between the Championship and the Premier League but you cannot say anything against the fairytale of

and their back-to-back-to-back promotions. I don’t think we will see another club do that again.

"It’s a great story and they are doing a lot of good for the people of the

area, especially with what that football club means to the community. I think that is the biggest win for the owners.

"Will that ruin the show? There’s always something else they can produce to keep it interesting. There’s so much going on around the football club and I’ve found it super interesting to watch how they’ve maneuvered themselves up the leagues in such a short span of time."

Dwight Yorke believes that

can make the jump up to the Premier League this season.

"The Championship is always open for anyone to come and win it,” he told

Sports Betting

"I look back to my experience as a player in the Championship to realise how that league operates, and everybody has a genuine chance from top to bottom, whether it’s the teams that are favourites with the bigger budgets or the teams that surprise you.

"We know West Ham, Wolves and Burnley are dropping back down with their parachute payments and Premier League players, and so they dominate the conversations, and it does have a little bit of a knock-on effect. But I think everybody should take a leap out of Coventry City’s book. They defied the odds last year under Frank Lampard and anybody in this league with a decent squad and a good manager can get themselves promoted. It doesn't matter what the predictions say about them before the season kicks off.

"If you’re brave enough to go out and play the way you need to play and fight for it, you can get up there. That’s my experience of the Championship. When I joined Sunderland, we were in 23rd place. By April, we’d won the league. That tells you everything.

"It doesn't matter who you are, or who you play for, if you put your mind and soul into it, the Championship will reward you. You can get it done. It’s a league that is as wide open as ever. Anyone can get promoted so why can’t

or Birmingham City or Blackburn Rovers go out there do it this season? Who thought Hull City would go up to the Premier League last year? There’s another example to look at.

"Wrexham have never made it to the Premier League but Birmingham and Blackburn have played in the top flight before so why would you not go into the season thinking you can get back up there? With the extra two playoff places, these teams have never had more ways to get promoted than they do now."

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