Talk of the Devils: Manchester United and the blessing in disguise of their 13 World Cup players

The Premier League season is already two weeks behind us and this time next week, the 2026 World Cup will be in full swing. United’s pre-season campaign is 42 days away, for those who are counting (Andy Mitten).

So, in the meantime, we have recorded a Talk of the Devils episode for things for fans to keep an eye on during the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Initially, I wasn’t sure there was much to discuss but the more you look into it, the more you realise there is quite a lot on United’s agenda.

Firstly, after Tyler Fletcher’s late call-up to the Scotland squad there will be 13 players representing their countries.

The tournament begins on Thursday with Mexico against South Africa in Mexico City (kick-off 8pm UK time; 3pm ET) but due to the lack of United representation in Groups A and B, it doesn’t really get going for us until Saturday when Brazil take on Morocco, bringing three United players — the departing Casemiro, Matheus Cunha and Noussair Mazraoui — head to head. Every game in Group C could feature a United player, with Fletcher’s Scotland also in the mix.

The following Wednesday will be a busy day with the English and Portuguese quartet of Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot kicking off their fixtures, and then it all flows from there.

There’s a similar number of United players involved compared to other recent tournaments despite the expansion to 1,248 players across 48 nations at this World Cup. But actually, United have more call-ups than the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool or Chelsea.

It’s not always a barometer for status, though. In 2014, no team had more players at the World Cup. In 2010, only five United players featured for their countries despite the team being in the middle of a run of three Champions League finals in four seasons.

Dig a little deeper, though and the potential impact of the World Cup on United’s preparations for next season seems less. Of the 13 players, Casemiro has left, Rashford might too and there’s doubt over the futures of Altay Bayindir and Manuel Ugarte. There’s also a question of how regularly Fletcher will be around the first-team picture.

It seems there are only five guaranteed starters for their nations in Casemiro, Ugarte, Bruno Fernandes, Noussair Mazraoui and Amad. Matheus Cunha could be added to that category but there is a lot of competition in the Brazil squad and Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo, Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez all have a fight to make their teams’ line-ups. Martinez, for example, hasn’t played for Argentina since 2024.

There’s still all the travel and training, of course, but how many minutes will some of them actually play? And we know the other half of United’s first-team squad will get a rest.

I’m sure Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo are bitterly disappointed that their nations didn’t qualify and obviously, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw are amongst the high-profile absentees from the England squad. Matthijs de Ligt’s back problem ensured he couldn’t even be considered for the Netherlands but a summer off for these players and others will undoubtedly help preparations for next season when the squad joins back up in July.

Even United’s transfer targets named in our DealSheet — Ederson, Mateus Fernandes and Lewis Hall — will not be representing their countries.

You wonder what benefit this will all bring United’s players after playing their fewest matches in a season for 109 years. There’ll certainly be plenty of senior stars reporting from the very beginning of pre-season to work with Michael Carrick and his staff, for a start.

Well, compare that, for example, with Manchester City. This time last season, their players were about to take part in the Club World Cup. Their earlier-than-expected exit from that competition eased things a little, but there was still not much of a break before the 2025-26 season.

They ended up playing 60 matches compared to United’s 40 — Arsenal played 63. City only had six free midweeks outside of international breaks in the 38 weeks from the end of August. This is before you factor in that both the teams who finished above United in the final Premier League table have more players away now in Canada, Mexico and the United States. That’s a lot of football. Surely there’s an advantage in there for next season?

Anyway, for now, stick your wall charts up, pull on your England/Portugal/Brazil/Morocco/Scotland/Turkey/Ivory Coast/Belgium/Uruguay/Argentina shirt and get ready to cheer the lads on. Or not. After all, the sooner they are out, the sooner they can join up for pre-season.

Who needs to play in the World Cup final when there’s a friendly against Wrexham in Helsinki to feature in 24 hours before?

Talk of the Devils is taking a break…

Our final episode before a fortnight off is on Monday, previewing the World Cup with one of the players travelling out to take part in the tournament.

Zidane Iqbal was born in Manchester and was nurtured at Carrington, but through his mother’s heritage, he will be representing Iraq in Group I. It’s the first time the country has qualified for 40 years and Zidane has quite the story to tell about their qualification.

We will then be back for one episode a week across the summer from Thursday, June 25 — but it could be more. Who knows what our club might have in store?

Look out for the Iqbal episode at the start of next week on YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Devil’s in the detail: Tyler Fletcher

You often hear coaches say that any great midfielder needs a strong sense of timing, and Tyler Fletcher couldn’t have coordinated his run to the World Cup any better.

The 18-year-old only earned his first call up to the Scotland under-21 squad in March, then his first senior call-up a couple of weeks ago to part of their training camp ahead of the tournament.

Tyler Fletcher will go to the World Cup, something his father never managed (Photo: WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

But, after making his international debut in the warm-up win over Curacao last weekend, an injury to Napoli’s Billy Gilmour has opened a spot for Steve Clarke to add him to his 26-man travelling party.

It’s remarkable — especially compared to his dad, Darren, who won 80 caps for Scotland and captained his country, but never played at the World Cup.

Tyler elected to play for his father’s country of birth after representing England at youth level. His twin brother Jack has remained playing for England and they even captained their rival nations against one another in an under-16s clash in 2023.

It caps a brilliant season for Tyler after making his Premier League debut for United in February’s win over Tottenham and also appearing off the bench at Brighton on the final day. Andy has said on the podcast a few times that the club see the Fletcher twins at the head of the conveyor belt of talent in the academy, with both of them being regularly around the first-team picture in the 2025-26 season.

Red all over

• The player of the year (not Bruno Fernandes), the moment of the season, a reminder to Laurie of the significance — or indeed mere existence — of the summer solstice. It’s all in our end-of-season awards episode of Talk of the Devils
• Ederson is the new name for United fans to properly indulge over. David Ornstein reported on Tuesday that an agreement has been reached with Italian side Atalanta for the Brazilian midfielder. James Horncastle has been comparing him to a 1980s video game legend…
• Want to hear about a Hollywood’s actor affinity with Manchester United? Adam Crafton has been speaking to Scottish film legend Brian Cox about his support for the club and how deeply he was affected by the Munich Air Disaster. It’s a poignant chat.