The Manchester United players are shaping up for a huge season after their worst-ever Premier League finish.
Ruben Amorim suffered an extremely difficult first six months as Manchester United’s head coach last season, with the team finishing 15th in the Premier League. To make matters worse, the Reds lost the Europa League final against Tottenham to miss out on a place in the Champions League.
Since then, the team and coaching staff have had the summer off to reflect on where it all went wrong and how to finally kick on this season.
There will be many players determined to make up for the hurt they caused last season and the only way to do that is by winning football matches.
United are currently in the United States for the Summer Series, which involves three friendly fixtures against Premier League opposition.
The pre-season matches are an opportunity for fans across the world to see their favourite stars up close, including new signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
Photo by Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty ImagesMason Mount welcomes competition from Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo
One player with a lot to prove at United is Mason Mount.
The England international has endured a difficult first two seasons at Old Trafford, which have been hindered by injury following his £60 million transfer from Chelsea.
Mount showed promise towards the end of last season, and he hopes to build on that next season even though United have spent £133.5m on attacking duo Cunha and Mbeumo.
The 26-year-old has backed himself to compete with United’s new signings for a place in the team.
“When you’re at a club like Manchester United, there has to be that competition there to perform as a group we want to win and we’re all in that together,” Mount told The Mirror.
“The new lads who have come in have been brilliant in training so far and the first couple of weeks is never easy.
“It’s about integrating them into the group and making them feel as comfortable as possible and I think we’ve all done that. They’ve been brilliant in training and we’ll be working together to get to that goal. They know what’s coming with the Premier League and the games and how difficult it is now. What they’ve done in the Premier League already, the amount of goals they’ve scored, the amount of assists they’ve created, that’s exactly what we need in the team.
“We’re working together to try and improve that, because last season we didn’t hit those goals or assists as much as we could have done.” Asked how long it took him to get over United’s 1-0 defeat to Spurs in Bilbao, Mount said: “Quite a long time. I’ve had quite a few losses in finals, so it’s not easy. It never gets any easier, for sure.
“But it’s about looking at what we could have improved on. In finals, little things that happen in the game, it’s like they have a bigger impact. It was tight. But it’s about looking forward now and really using this pre-season to work on a lot of things that maybe we didn’t get enough time to do last season.
“With the schedule, with the games, and with the manager coming in halfway through the season, this pre-season period is so vital for us as a group, to work on things.”
Mount must improve impact at Man Utd
Even though there will be more competition at United in the attacking positions than last season, Mount should find it easy to improve his output from the previous season.
Mount made just 16 appearances in the Premier League due to injury, scoring one goal and racking up three yellow cards.
Mason Mount stats last season
It remains to be seen how much game time Mount will get, but Amorim has always made it clear that he is a strong admirer of his player.
United fans are not asking for too much when they want more output from Mount, considering the amount of money he cost the club.