Manchester United’s pre-season preparations are slowly kicking into gear as several of their World Cup stars start to trickle back into the building at Carrington.
So far, Michael Carrick has mainly had to utilise academy graduates alongside senior players who were not named in their countries’ squads for the quadrennial showpiece.
Bryan Mbeumo, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and new signing Andrey Santos are some of the big names who have played in both pre-season games so far.
Now, the club’s official media team has revealed that Amad and Altay Bayindir have returned from their break following their World Cup exertions.
Amad enjoyed a successful World Cup
Amad starred for Ivory Coast in the United States, scoring twice as the Elephants qualified for the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
Despite Amad’s stunning strike against Norway, it was the Scandinavians who emerged victorious in their round-of-32 clash.
Welcome home, lads ❤️@AmadDiallo_19 and @AltayBayindir_1 are 🔙
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 27, 2026
The 20-time English league champions will be delighted with the 24-year-old, especially after his disappointing second half of the campaign under Carrick.
There have been murmurs of an exit, but the Old Trafford side still have faith in the Ivorian. However, he will need to keep reproducing his World Cup form if he is to start games at right wing next season.
Altay Bayindir’s time at the club is up
There is expected to be a lot of competition for this one role, with Bryan Mbeumo, Amad and Shea Lacey all fighting to start games.
As for the Turkiye international, he did not feature in a single game for his nation as they were stunningly knocked out at the group stage itself.
The former Fenerbahce ace should have been back much earlier, but the Red Devils had given him extended time off in order for him to find a club for himself.
United have already signed Karl Darlow, who is expected to be Senne Lammens’ backup this season, and there is no place in the squad for the 28-year-old.
Feature image Mike Hewitt via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
