Pre-season is completed and the countdown to the 2025-26 season is on.
It's been a busy summer at Old Trafford with three big-name arrivals to bolster Ruben Amorim's attack.
Manchester United start the season at home to Arsenal on Sunday - but are they ready?
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Mancheseter United goalkeeper David de Gea enjoyed his return to Old Trafford with Fiorentina for a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
"It has been a long time since coming back here so it was a special day seeing old friends. It was amazing. Seeing the crowd and players was emotional. It was a game I will never forget for sure."
On meeting up Sir Alex Ferguson earlier in the week: "He is the reason why I came here and he is very important for me. He is a legend of the club and I was so happy to see him."
On whether he held any regrets about how he left the club in 2023: "Sometimes football is how it is - you cannot control everything. I was here for 12 years and it was the best period of my life. Playing for this club was unbelievable. I will always be grateful for this club."
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United defeated Italian side Fiorentina on penalties after a 1-1 draw in their final pre-season friendly at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Simon Sohm gave the visitors the lead early on with a fine unmarked volley from a corner before Robin Gosens scored an own goal past former United goalkeeper David de Gea to level the scores midway through the first half.
The second half had no further scoring but both sides netted their first four spotkicks in the shootout. Then, after Altay Bayindir saved from Fabiano Parisi, Kobbie Mainoo smashed home to give the Red Devils the win.
Summer signings Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko were presented to the Old Trafford crowd before the game with both Mbeumo and Cunha in the starting XI.
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesRuben Amorim's system involves two deeper midfield players, wing-backs who push high up the pitch, two inside forwards and a striker.
It is assumed Sesko will be the striker, with Matheus Cunha playing behind him on the left and Bryan Mbeumo on the right.
That would mean skipper Bruno Fernandes taking on one of the deeper midfield roles.
Now, Fernandes is many things but a box-to-box midfielder is not one of them.
Fernandes likes to roam. He likes to get on the ball. He likes to find pockets of space to take a pass.
But the 30-year-old Portugal international is not someone you would rely on being alert to danger. He is not someone who is going to make a 10-yard run in anticipation of closing down space.
This seems to be a problem, even if it was something Amorim dismissed when I asked him on the specific point about his midfield in Chicago a couple of weeks ago.
"Bruno runs a lot," he said. "Maybe in the sprint he's a different player, but he runs a lot. He has a lot of endurance. He's smart. So it's not about that. Bruno's physicality is not the concern. He's ready for the physicality, playing deep or as a midfielder."
If that was accurate, why would United be making discreet inquiries about Baleba?
After all, the Brighton player is very much a box-to-box midfielder, someone with energy and endurance, who can tackle and pass.
More pertinently, he is precisely the kind of player Amorim does not have in his squad.
You have been sharing your stories and photos about why you love Manchester United.
Here is a final selection of your submissions, but do make sure you scroll down this page to see all the best responses from throughout the week:
Nigel: I fell in love with United when my cousin gave me a flip book of George Best. Each page had a different image of him moving with the ball. If you flicked the pages quickly, he moved like magic. From then on there was no going back. I still get goosebumps when I go to Old Trafford, more than 50 years on.
Jason: I'd been playing American football as a teenager and didn't watch our game. When I stopped, I needed to pick a team. I remember Fergie, I think, saying that it didn't matter how many they scored because we'd score more. That was it. Just go for it football. That was in 1989 I think, so hardly our best. Then, it was 1999 Champions League final and we won in the dying seconds. Bayern were distraught. How could you not keep loving that sort of never-say-die drama?
Paul: In 1970 we moved to a new house near the Cliff, United's old training ground. We would often go down to watch the players and get autographs - Denis Law was always the most friendly. This is my brother David with Bobby Charlton, probably in 1971. In January 1972, I went to my first United match and saw them lose 1-0 to Chelsea, but I was hooked. I took my much younger brother to his first game - the famous "Ta Ra Fergie" banner- and remember telling him to ignore it. Little were we to know.
Image source, Getty ImagesWhat does Rasmus Hojlund's future at Manchester United look like if they sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig?
"I think it means he won't be the starting striker," said BBC Sport's chief football news reporter Simon Stone on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "People have said that they would be better off keeping Hojlund because he has looked quite good during pre-season so far and has scored a few goals but I think there is an acceptance that he could leave.
"Hojlund came out after the game against Bournemouth and he sought journalists out in the mixed zone - which is unusual - to say hat he wants to stay at the club no matter what happens.
"It is OK saying that, but when you look at United's forward options, how often is he going to play?
"Especially when he is one of the players that they might be able to raise some money from. They paid £72m for him so they have got to be careful that they don't put a big loss on that, but I don't see the point of them keeping Hojlund.
"They signed him as a young striker to develop and they are now hoping to sign another young striker, who has the potential to develop.
"I think that will be articulated to Hojlund over the coming weeks and I will be surprised if he is still at the club by the 2 September.
"Whether they will look beyond the players they clearly don't want anymore and into the squad that went to the United States we don't know - but they will raise more money."
Listen to the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United defender Harry Amass was left out of the club's recent trip to the United States as a decision had already been taken for the 18-year-old to go out on loan.
Now, with leagues over Europe starting, European qualification campaigns in full swing, the Championship kicking off tonight and the Premier League next week, decisions are starting to be made around which clubs need what for their squads.
Amass played for United in a closed doors match on Thursday.
His next scheduled appearance would be in the National League Cup at Tamworth on Wednesday.
However, whether last year's United Young Player of the Year is involved remains to be seen.
There are numerous clubs interested in Amass and a decision on his short term future could be made next week.
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesI spent 12 years covering Manchester United for a different organisation - 11 of them when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge.
Any particularly memorable moment for me has to involve him - and them.
The day that sticks out is his last one.
The Premier League title had been won, Ferguson's Old Trafford farewell had been completed but there was still one game to go - at West Bromwich Albion.
I have spoken to people involved for United that day and it is fair to say Ferguson's notoriously high demands were missing. His drive for victory was not quite the same.
What transpired was almost a fitting epitaph for Ferguson's career. An amazing 5-5 draw, including West Brom scoring three times in the final 10 minutes to snatch a point.
It denied Ferguson victory in his final game but the crazy manner of the match and the goals scored - it remains the highest scoring draw in Premier League history and only one Premier League game has contained more goals - was in keeping with the Scot's philosophy.
Ferguson was applauded by West Brom fans and pushed to the front of the United players to take the acclaim of the visiting fans. The mutual respect was evident and I can still picture the images. A truly unforgettable day.
Join the conversation and tell your story about why you love United
AC Milan are interested in taking Rasmus Hojlund from Manchester United. The 22-year-old is available for about £30m but Milan are keen on a loan move. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column
This week, we are asking you to share your stories and photos for why you fell in love with Manchester United.
Here is a selection of your submissions:
Stephen: I am 73 and have supported Man Utd since I was 15 years old. My father worked for a scrap company that burned up all the railway sidings at the back of Old Trafford down the lane. I spent my six-week school holidays working for my dad and I remember we couldn't work on Saturdays - match days. All my family from five and upwards now support Man United. I Remember back then the old cafe just over the bridge. That was Old Trafford. The picture is of my late daughter at a game.
Darren: It's May 1976 and as a seven-year-old who liked football, it was time I picked a team.
Red has always been my favourite colour so Manchester United became my team. Steve Coppell is still my hero to this day. His signed shirt takes pride of place on my wall.
From trying to celebrate quietly in 1999 while my baby son slept, to middle-naming youngest son Roy after Keano, United will always be in my blood, through the good times and the bad.
Debbie: When my mum was eight years old, she came home from school in 1958 and wondered why her mum was crying. The Munich Air Disaster affected the whole country, and from that moment on, my mum became a big fan, supporting from the south, but watching them play as much as she could. In particular a game at Chelsea in the 60s when George Best kicked the ball and it hit my mum's bum! Her passion for United was so strong that I too fell in love with them, especially the first ever Premier League win in 1992.
Send us your pictures and stories here
Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester United want £50million for winger Alejandro Garnacho, who is attracting interest from Chelsea.
Garnacho is set to leave Old Trafford this summer and United have now set their asking price for the Argentina international.
Having already signed Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha this summer, United look set to complete a move for striker Benjamin Sesko from Red Bull Leipzig.
Given Garnacho is likely to find his game time limited at Old Trafford next season, he could leave this summer.
Chelsea registered their interest in Garnacho earlier this summer.
Image source, Getty ImagesRuben Amorim's first summer transfer window at Manchester United was always going to be important for his and the club's future, but the way they have conducted their business this season has also been new.
It was first demonstrated in the Bryan Mbeumo deal, as United made an agreement with the then-Brentford forward as he said he wanted to join them.
United then started negotiating with Brentford and "it all got a bit fractious", which is why it took so long to complete.
This approach of confirming what the player wants first seems to be a new approach from United, and it is continuing with current targets.
"There seems to be a negotiating tactic," BBC Sport's chief football news reporter Simon Stone told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.
"United held off putting a bid in for Benjamin Sesko until they understood that the player wanted to join them. "Then they put the bid in and it has caused haggling.
"They have to match, or better, the number Newcastle have bid.
"It raises all kinds of questions about how they can afford him, given Sir Jim Ratcliffe's apocalyptic warnings about the club going bust as recently as March. Plus, they finished 15th last season and are bidding against a club in the Champions League.
"There are all kinds of discussions around those talking points and this deal is not done until it's done.
"But we are working at the assumption that Manchester United have been given a very strong indication that Sesko wants to come to Old Trafford and that is why they have started bidding."
Listen to the full discussion on the Football Daly podcast
Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist
Image source, Danielle Sarver CoombsWhen it comes to our love for a football club, the answer to why we do lies in "both psychological and societal" reasons.
In the first part of her chat with BBC Sport, researcher and co-writer of the Routledge Handbook of Sport Fans and Fandom Danielle Sarver Coombs spoke about the part that identity and tradition play.
And yet when we are caught up in the emotions of a tough defeat or nerves of an important match, we can often ask why we put ourselves through it.
"There are psychological processes at work and physiological ones in terms of how we respond and engage," Sarver Coombs said.
"An example that I always give is when I take the train to work, I go past Arsenal's stadium and I feel literally nothing other than: 'Oh, that's a big building'. Whereas on a train to Manchester, I went by Villa Park and my heart started pounding. I got all excited and was trying to take pictures out the window.
"I had a visceral reaction to this place. We can't pretend we don't have that sort of physical reaction because we do.
"When someone is talking about a controversial decision and I feel myself getting wound up, even though I intellectually know that I can't control it and that it's just a game, my body doesn't know that.
"My gut doesn't know that and so I have this really emotional response and we can't control that."
A 2023 book titled 'Football on the brain: why minds love sport, external' suggests it comes down to 'an understandable and logical consequence of the human mind's natural inclination to find meaning through beliefs... It's a religion as far as the brain is concerned'.
But it not just about what is going on inside the mind but outside influences too.
"There is a sociological element to it because the community part is such a huge driver and benefit for us," Sarver Coombs explains.
"Sociologically, we are driven to be part of communities. We are driven to find our groups that we can be members of. Sport provides a way to do that - this sense that I was chosen to be part of this community and it's something bigger than I am."
As the game expands, unrest among supporters seems to be increasing, but how does that impact this ingrained love for a club?
"You always go through these cycles when the game is changing," Sarver Coombs said.
"Despite all the changes, the traditions remain so strong and it's such a huge draw that it becomes really hard to actually separate yourself from it. Even if you do, it tends to be a short-term separation. You get sucked back in because something happens.
"People don't want that change, but then we adapt to it and continue moving forward."
Browse this page to see lots of fan stories for how you fell in love with your club.
And check out those from other Premier League teams over here
Image source, Getty ImagesDuring Brighton's pre-season fan forum on Wednesday, club chairman Paul Barber was asked about the rumours surrounding Carlos Baleba.
Manchester United are interested in the 21 year-old who has three years left on his contract at Amex Stadium.
"There's always going to be interest in our players." Barber said. "Manchester United have not been in touch with me. Speculation is speculation."
"Carlos is a fantastic talent. We hope he'll be here for years to come - but its subject to the dynamics of the football world, which isn't always predictable."
