Five best goals of Manchester United’s preseason tour

Manchester United’s preseason is nearly wrapped up. With the tour of the United States done there are only a couple more friendlies before the Premier League begins in two weeks’ time against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Tune up time is over, and while the friendlies don’t quite compare to competition fixtures there have been some nice moments to take into the 2023/24 campaign.

With the preseason matches abroad wrapped up, here is a list of the five best goals from United’s tour.

Noam Emeran vs. Leeds United

One of a couple matches where the youngsters got to show their stuff.

The opening friendly of the summer in Oslo, Norway drew out several United fans despite the absence of many notable first teamers. It did give many a first look at new signing Mason Mount, but in terms of takeaways from the match most will think of the performance of one Noam Emeran.

The 20-year old French wide player has been a part of United’s youth setup since 2019, playing in the U-21 side for the last couple seasons. His first taste of senior action came in Oslo, and he didn’t disappoint.

Emeran came in to replace Amad Diallo after halftime, and wasted no time in running onto the end of a through ball from Isak Hansen-Aarøen and planting it past the keeper. The ball was given away on a forward ball but won back quickly by the Norwegian midfielder, who quickly located Emeran running behind the defense.

The French forward helped double the lead before the end as well, setting up Joe Hugill after beating the full back with a shimmy.

Donny van de Beek vs. Lyon

You could just tell how good it felt for him.

Donny van de Beek hasn’t had the best of times in recent years, struggling for first team minutes at United, an uninspiring loan spell at Everton, and of course last year suffering such an unfortunate injury after finally making appearances again.

He’s thankfully made a good recovery from the knee injury that sidelined him for most of the 2022/23 season, and put in some good preseason performances, notably an excellent goal against Lyon in Edinburgh.

A good cross in from the byline by Daniel Gore, but it was an even better control and finish from Donny. Glad to see him fit again, and hopefully he’ll get to show a bit more of that going forward in his career.

Jadon Sancho vs. Arsenal

The first of the big ticket preseason matches on the US tour, United’s match against Arsenal at MetLife Stadium gave another recent signing the chance to showcase his abilities.

Jadon Sancho, playing in a center forward role as part of Erik ten Hag’s forward line tinkering, got an opportunity thanks to a poor over commitment by Gabriel.

The Gunners defender suddenly found himself in front of a ball he had tried to receive and clear, and some terrific pace by Sancho created the separation needed to charge toward goal and eventually fire a beautiful shot into the corner at the near post.

Aaron Ramsdale probably could have done better (on both goals), but the power on the shot after sprinting forward was just quality from Sancho.

Marc Jurado vs. AFC Wrexham

Another match for the youngsters, but another memorable goal.

Spanish full backs Alvaro Fernandez and Marc Jurado combined for this one, finishing off a spell of possession just before halftime to get back into it against the National League champions.

Certainly not the most memorable moment of a hectic match, but for the United players involved it was the culmination of some good work in build up.

It was a messy match with an unfortunate injury to Paul Mullin that took the sting out of it early, and eventually a red card for Gore that saw United struggle in the second half, but the goal itself was a nice moment from a pair of really promising Academy players.

Diogo Dalot vs. Borussia Dortmund

The finale of the US tour certainly didn’t disappoint from a neutral perspective. A five-goal thriller by preseason terms which featured some really good periods of play by United. In fact they probably should have scored more given how much of the ball they had, but the opener by Dalot certainly left no one disappointed as the fireworks began.

A curler from outside the box, perfectly placed to be Gregor Kobel even with a good look at the shot and trajectory. The textbook definition of top bins, and possibly the best goal of United’s preseason.

Pick that one out.