United players back in training

The first day back at training for Manchester United’s squad saw a combination of training drills, ball work and one-to-one sessions with the coaches, with the lads clearly delighted to be back out on the pitches of the Aon Training Complex.

Among those sharpening up their skills on a surprisingly hot and sunny day for Manchester was Paul Pogba, who is eyeing a return to action and his long-awaited first match of 2020.

“We have got to stay motivated, there is no other choice,” Paul told us earlier this month. “It is a period and we don't know until when it will be like this, but I still have goals in my head and one day hopefully this [pandemic] will stop.

“And then we have to get back on the pitch, so we have to be ready. For myself, I have been out for a long time as well, so for me I just want to come back playing football.”

As captain Harry Maguire explained in our interview captured on the first day back yesterday, the squad’s training sessions were staggered through the day, and subject to strict social distancing guidelines.

“There’s slots all the way throughout the day, every 30 minutes we have a different slot and each slot is taken by a different coach at the club. It’s obviously strange and something that we’re not used to, but it’s good mentally as well to come into the training ground and get used to the surroundings again.

“Today we had a good warm up, getting the joints moving again, good stretching,” continued Maguire. “The last thing we want is to get injuries so early on into building our fitness back up.

“We had a dribble track, where we were working around it continuously for two minutes. We did three blocks of that. We did a couple of passing drills, keeping a large distance between the lads. And we finished with some aerobic stuff, running across the penalty box which was tough. But it feels good now and I’m ready to go again tomorrow.”