Luke Shaw, or any of United’s younger players, could have scored a hat-trick and played a blinder in the club’s opening tour match against Club America, of Mexico, in Seattle in the early hours on Saturday and yet still it would not have been enough to earn them the man-of-the-match award.

Journalists were invited to vote for their first and second choice for man-of-match at CenturyLink Field, albeit on the condition that the player they picked had to be aged 21 or over. Since the International Champions Cup, in which United are playing, is sponsored by Guinness and the legal age for drinking in the US is 21, any player under that age was not eligible for the man-of-the-match award, given that a steady supply