Manchester United have slipped out of the spotlight and into Ireland, but this is no midseason getaway. Michael Carrick has taken a 25-man group across the water for what the club are bluntly calling an “intensive” training camp. The message is clear: third place is not secure yet, and there will be no drifting through the run-in.
The headline news sits at the heart of the defence and out on the left flank. Lisandro Martínez and Patrick Dorgu are both on the plane. For Carrick, it feels like two new signings arriving just as the season tightens.
Martínez has endured a brutal year. An ACL tear wiped out most of his 2025, and just when he looked ready to anchor United’s back line again, a calf problem against West Ham United on February 10 pushed him back into the treatment room. The Argentina international brings more than bite and aggression; he gives United structure, personality, and a passing range that drags the team 10 yards higher. His presence in Ireland suggests he is edging back towards the level where he can do that again.
Dorgu’s absence has been even more keenly felt. The Denmark international had burst into life under Carrick, repurposed as a higher, more aggressive wide forward. He scored in those statement back-to-back wins over Manchester City and Arsenal, a quick, fearless outlet who stretched games and unsettled full-backs. Then his hamstring went in that victory over the Gunners, and with it went United’s only natural option for that side of the pitch.
He has missed the last eight Premier League games. Now he is back on grass, back in full sessions, and this camp is designed to push him through the final stages of his recovery. If he comes through the week unscathed, United regain a weapon they simply do not have elsewhere in the squad.
Not everyone has made the trip. Diogo Dalot, the ever-present since returning from a minor issue in September, has stayed behind through illness. Tom Heaton, the veteran third-choice goalkeeper, is also out with the same problem. For a player who has started almost every game this season, Dalot’s absence underlines that this is not a light tune-up; if you are not fully ready, you do not go.
There is disappointment too around Matthijs de Ligt. The Dutch defender, out with a back injury since the start of December, is missing from the group. Reports that he has yet to resume “meaningful” training point to a return that remains some distance away. United will have to navigate the decisive weeks without the depth and authority he was signed to provide.
Carrick’s squad in Ireland is a blend of established names and promoted prospects, shaped in part by academy commitments. United’s U21s are contesting the Premier League International Cup, facing Real Madrid Castilla in a quarterfinal on Tuesday. That explains why the likes of Jack Fletcher, Tyler Fletcher, Tyler Fredricson, Chido Obi and Shea Lacey are absent from this senior camp. They have their own knockout football to chase.
So others step into the gap. In goal, Altay Bayındır is joined by Senne Lammens, Dermot Mee and Fred Heath. At the back, Noussair Mazraoui, Harry Maguire, Martínez, Tyrell Malacia, Dorgu, Leny Yoro, Luke Shaw, Ayden Heaven and Yuel Helafu form a defensive unit with a mix of experience, recovery projects and raw potential.
Midfield looks more familiar: Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and Jim Thwaites. That core will carry United’s control and creativity through the final stretch, and this week offers Carrick the rare luxury of drilling combinations without the shadow of a weekend fixture.
Up front, Matheus Cunha, Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Šeško and Victor Musa provide a varied attacking cast. Some are established, some are still trying to nail down a permanent role, all of them need sharpness. This camp is where they are expected to find it.
If the location raises eyebrows in April, the reasoning does not. United’s calendar, usually bursting at this point of the year, has thinned to an almost unfamiliar degree. No European football. Early exits from both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. The result is a 40-game season, the lightest workload the club has faced since 1914–15.
Their last outing, a 2–2 draw at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Friday, March 20, slid straight into an international break. The weekend just gone brought no league action either, with the schedule paused for the FA Cup quarterfinals. United have been stuck in neutral.
The next competitive step comes on Monday, April 13, when Leeds United visit Old Trafford. That is a long time to wait. Too long, if you are trying to protect rhythm and intensity. Rest heals, but it also dulls. Carrick and his staff know that match sharpness bleeds away when the games stop.
That is why this week in Ireland has been framed as “intensive.” The aim is to recreate the demands of competition as closely as possible: high-tempo sessions, tactical repetition, small-sided battles that sting the lungs and legs. United cannot afford to drift back into action.
They sit third in the Premier League table and are strong favourites to secure a Champions League place for next season. The opportunity is there, and so is the risk. A sluggish restart, a couple of flat performances, and that cushion could shrink quickly.
So United work in private, away from Old Trafford, trying to knit Martínez back into the defensive line, to restore Dorgu’s explosive edge, to keep Fernandes, Mainoo and the rest humming. This is not a luxury camp. It is a test of whether this squad can turn an unusually quiet spring into the launchpad for a decisive finish.
