A sneak-peak into Manchester United's pre-season tour

The squad that will be jetting across three continents for the pre-season fixtures has finally been revealed. They departed from the Manchester airport in a double-decker, where all seats recline to lie flat, today morning. There are probably many names who are relatively unknown to those who only follow the First team. But for those who follow the Reserves and Youth team intently, just like the first team, will be very happy to see some of the names that left for the Tour today.

The team consists of many players, who were part of the Reserve Team last season. Players like Johnstone (GK), Veseli,Vermijl, Wooton, Blackett were all either part of the U-18′s or the Reserve team last season. The the number of senior players missing from the squad are either rested after their taking part in the recently concluded European Champions, or because of Olympics commitments, or injured/recovering from injury.

Rooney,Young, Nani are all rested. Giggs, Cleverley, DDG, Rafael have Olympic duties. Smalling, Evans,Vidic are still recovering from injuries. However, United will still be taking along some of the big names in the form of Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Anderson as well as new signings Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell. This will be United fans first chance to see them in Action.

This has given the youngsters an opportunity to showcase their skills and impress Sir Alex Ferguson. Blackett and especially Tunncliffe (CM) should see this as an important tour for themselves, considering they occupy positions which Sir Alex is currently trying to fill-in. If they were to impress in the six friendly games, they might just be able to convince the manager to give them a chance in the future.

Players who are likely to figure in Ferguson’s plans for next season, will be loaned out to clubs so that they get regular football and match experience.

The surprise addition to the team for me has to be Bebe. What he is still doing at the club baffles. Presumably no one wants to buy him and I am not surprised.

The squad overall has a mix of youth and experience though there is more of youth in my opinion than experience in the squad especially in defense. Rio Ferdinand will be the captain of the team on this tour.

Manchester United will first head off to South Africa for their first stop in the tour, where they will face local sides Amazulu FC in Durban, before they go to Cape Town to play Ajax Cape Town.

Summer Tour 2012 Schedule

18 Jul – AmaZulu FC, Durban, 8pm21 Jul – Ajax Cape Town, Cape Town, 3pm25 Jul – Shanghai Shenhua, Shanghai, 8pm05 Aug – Valerenga, Oslo, 4pm08 Aug – FC Barcelona, Gothenburg, 8pm11 Aug – Hannover 96, Hanover 8.20pm

* All kick off times local