Manchester United have confirmed that the U21s will take on Rochdale in a pre-season friendly.
The meeting, which will take place on Saturday 2nd August, is the first pre-season match to be confirmed for the U21s.
Taking place at Rochdale’s Crown Oil Arena, tickets are priced at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.
United also confirmed through the official website that “more details on the pre-season schedule will be confirmed in due course.”
The two sides met last season in the National League Cup where Travis Binnion’s U21s came out 1-0 winners.
Amir Ibragimov scored the lone goal in the win and received a 7.5 rating, tied for the highest, in The Peoples Person‘s player ratings for the match.
United centre back Jack Kingdon also impressed during the match, which subsequently saw him earn a loan to Rochdale in January. He enjoyed a successful spell making 16 appearances, before recently leaving United upon the expiry of his contract.
The connection between the two clubs doesn’t end there though. Current Rochdale player Aidan Barlow also came through Manchester United’s academy before leaving the club in 2020.
Barlow recently signed a contract extension with Rochdale after scoring twice and providing six assists last season for the National League club.
The match will provide good experience to United’s youngsters as Binnion gets used to his new squad as many of the older U21s move on and last season’s U18s move up with potential for the likes of Chido Obi to drop back down if they are not involved with the first team.
Despite a different squad selection, Binnion will be hoping for a repeat of last December’s result.
United’s U21s will continue to receive senior exposure this summer, with the team playing in the EFL Trophy again. They recently found out their group stage opponents for the same.
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Colm Murphy
A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
