Carrick says being ‘careful’ with Mount as Man Utd draw with PSG

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Carrick

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Michael Carrick said he had to be “careful” with Mason Mount after the England midfielder was involved in an injury scare during Manchester United’s 1-1 friendly draw with Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg on Saturday.

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Mount, who joined United from Chelsea in 2023, has been hampered by injury problems since arriving at Old Trafford and he lasted less than 20 minutes after starting against PSG.

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The 27-year-old appeared to suffer a foot injury in Sweden and, following discussions with coaches on the touchline, left the field to be replaced by Tyler Fletcher.

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“He (Mount) got kicked,” United manager Carrick told reporters. “We just wanted to be careful and look after him.

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“We’ve been lucky with injuries so far, so we wanted to be careful.”

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Post-match video footage showed Mount walking on to the United bus without any form of visible knee support or a protective boot.

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United, who will be competing in the 2026/27 Champions League alongside title-holders PSG next term after finishing third in the Premier League, were 1-0 down at the time of Mount’s injury.

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They had fallen behind in the second minute through an Ibrahim Mbaye goal even though French giants PSG were missing many of their star players.

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But Bryan Mbeumo equalised for United in the 32nd minute, with Amad Diallo playing him in after winning the ball back.

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There were more injury concerns for United early in the second half when their 40-year-old goalkeeper Tom Heaton suffered a right hamstring problem while rushing out to make a clearance.

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Mbeumo might have doubled his tally but for the fine form of PSG’s Matvey Safonov.

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The goalkeeper, however, left the pitch to jeers after escaping punishment for clattering into Joshua Zirkzee way outside of his area — an incident that may well have seen him sanctioned in a competitive match.

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At the other end, there were late chances for Fletcher, Shea Lacey and captain Bruno Fernandes, who linked up well with new arrival Youri Tielemans in an encouraging sign for Carrick.

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“I enjoyed it,” Carrick told MUTV, United’s in-house television station. “Good challenge. Slightly different with the way they play. We should’ve scored more goals.”

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The former United and England midfielder added: “It’s good for the boys sometimes to have to problem solve and find their own way and I thought we did that. That prepares them for the season as well. In that respect there were a lot of things that maybe people don’t always see that we were quite happy with. There were some good signs there.”

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United have two more friendly fixtures, against bitter rivals Leeds in Dublin on August 12 and AC Milan in the Polish city of Wroclaw three days later, before launching their Premier League campaign away to newly-promoted Hull on August 22.

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AFP

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