Mason Mount enjoyed a winning start to life at Manchester United as Lisandro Martinez made his long-awaited return from injury in a 2-0 friendly win over Leeds United in Norway.
Youngsters Noam Emeran and Joe Hugill got the goals for a youthful United side which also featured senior players Raphael Varane, Martinez, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Mount and Jadon Sancho.
Martinez had not played for United since April after fracturing his metatarsal but returned to partner Varane at the back, but boss Erik ten Hag says it will take him a little while to get up to speed and also praised his captain Varane.
“Licha (Martinez) was, in the last part of the season, injured, and you still can see he’s now on his way back,” ten Hag told MUTV.
“So he worked very hard during the summer and now he’s returned for the first time back in the game. But you see he’s a little bit lacking in rhythm but you also see Rapha and Licha fitting very well together, they’re very solid.
“Varane’s fantastic. He’s had a fantastic personality from the first moment I met him and, of course, I know him over the years and what he already achieved at Real Madrid and at France. That’s unbelievable.
“You think when you are young, you can hardly believe you can achieve such things. But Rapha did. So that is so huge. And so we are full of respect from everyone around United internally and also you see the fans they admire him.”
Embed from Getty ImagesMount also played his first half of football in a United shirt since joining the club from Chelsea and ten Hag says he is looking forward to seeing more from the midfielder in the coming weeks.
“Oh [he was] great, but we could expect this,” the United boss added.
“He has so many skills and I’m sure we will take so much joy from him. He will contribute to our performance, absolutely.
